Race For Space

“The Eagle
has landed”

T
he journey of Apollo 8 around the Moon on
Christmas Eve 1968 put
the race to the lunar surface
beyond doubt. NASA had
taken the biggest gamble in its short history, and it had paid off magnificently: the mighty Saturn V Moon rocket did everything expected of it on only its first manned flight, while the revised Apollo CSM at last proved itself a worthy successor to the trailblazing Gemini.
Now the focus switched to the much-delayed and still problematic Apollo Lunar Module, whose late delivery had prompted NASA to change its Apollo flight program in the first place. Like all new spacecraft, the LM’s problems would all be solved in time – but time was the one thing the engineers at the Kennedy Space Center were short of. The Soviet Union might no longer be snapping at their heels, but there was now less than a year to go until President Kennedy’s deadline, and without a functioning Lunar Module there could be no landing.
In the USSR, TsKBEM chief designer Vasily Mishin was feeling the pressure, too. So much about the troubled Soviet space program was just beginning to come right: the powerful new medium-lift Proton rocket had already showed what it could do by boosting a pair of L1 spacecraft around the Moon; while Soyuz, the vehicle on which all Soviet manned spaceflight hopes were ultimately pinned, was poised to complete its first all-manned docking mission in low Earth orbit.
But hanging like an albatross around Mishin’s neck was the N1 – the rocket on which Soviet dreams of a lunar landing rested. Like the Apollo LM, its development had been fraught with problems. Now Mishin rashly gambled that everything would come together for the giant rocket’s first test flight. It didn’t, and as the N1 crashed in flames, so, too, did the USSR’s hopes of landing a man on the Moon before the Americans.
Back at NASA, the astronauts selected for the three forthcoming Apollo missions could do little between their rigorous training sessions but watch and wait. If the hardware continued to come good, three of them would have a shot at a full-blown lunar landing in mid-July. But everything hinged on the Lunar Module proving itself – first in Earth orbit and then in a “dress rehearsal” around the Moon. Confidence was high, but so were the stakes. And, as everyone at NASA was aware, it was a race against time that would run almost to the wire.


P A close-up of the plaque that the Apollo 11 astronauts left on the Moon in commemoration of their historic landing mission. It was attached to the LM ladder leg down which Neil Armstrong finally took his immortal “giant leap for mankind.”






Getting ready for the “Big One”

The Apollo astronauts had been in training since 1966, and most had already flown in space. But the Apollo spacecraft was still evolving, and now they faced the additional task of learning how to land a virtually untried craft on the lunar surface.
Only three days of 1969 had passed when Director of Mission Operations John D. Stevenson reaffirmed NASA’s plans for five Apollo flights to be launched during the year. The first two missions would test the recently reengineered Lunar Module (LM) in low Earth orbit and then lunar orbit. If all went to plan, the third mission would land two men on the lunar surface.
Six days later, the crew of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission was announced to the world: Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins. Ahead of them
N Aldrin, Armstrong and Collins pose in suits following the press conference at the Manned Spacecraft Center on January 10, 1969, where they were announced as the men who would be flying to the Moon.
lay seven months of media attention and an equally demanding training schedule.
The astronauts’ training was focused on the Command Module (CM) and Lunar Module (LM) simulators – initially at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston and then on their “twins” at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crews also took turns on the Dynamic Crew Procedures Simulator, which mechanically replicated the sensations experienced during launch, abort, rendezvous and reentry, and they practiced their prescribed routines until they became second nature.
The simulator sessions were punctuated by further water egress and zero-gravity training (both in the air and under water), and by visits to planetariums so that the astronauts could hone their navigation American Rockwell factory in Downey, California (CM) and to the Grumman plant in Bethpage, New York (LM) so that the crews could shadow the spacecraft assigned to them through each step of the contractors’ now-rigorous testing processes.
From Apollo 9 onward, crews were given the additional task of mastering the complex docking and re-docking of the Lunar Module in the Translation and Docking Simulator – a modified version of the Gemini rendezvous simulator. Those due to fly the LM down to the lunar surface also trained in the Lunar Landing Research Facility at Langley and had the dubious privilege of “flying” the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle at Houston’s nearby Ellington Air Force Base.
The training package was completed by visits and geological field trips to specially created lunar-style landscapes in Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. A mock-up of a lunar landing was also set up at the Marshall Spaceflight Center (MSC)
P Two of the Apollo 11 backup crew, Jim Lovell and Fred Haise, analyze rock samples during a geological field trip to Sierra Blanca, Texas in February 1969.
in Huntsville, Alabama, to help Armstrong and Aldrin run through procedures for the first Moonwalk. But as the clocked ticked, the crews’ anxiety began to rise: would all the practice really make perfect?



element of the Apollo 11 mission was not officially signed off until the end of June – less than a month before the actual landing.
O Armstrong (left) and Aldrin practice removing the experiments package from the LM’s Modular Equipment Stowage Assembly (MESA) attached to the spacecraft’s descent stage. Although the number of experiments had been reduced, there was still plenty to do.
collecting data for a year.
As it turned out, though, the scientists’ wishes took a back seat to operational expediency. The EASAP (Early Apollo Science Experiments Package) carried by Apollo 11 was a scaled-down version of the original consisting of just two “subpackages”: one containing a passive seismic experiment, a also to be gathered, geology was another casualty: the Apollo 11 astronauts made just one geology field trip – to Sierra Blanca, Texas, in late February.
P Armstrong carries the S-band antenna designed to improve TV reception. In the end, it did not need to be deployed.
Training for the Moon 11


Travelling through space… on the ground


It is estimated that each Apollo crew prior to the first Moon landing clocked up almost 32,000 hours preparing for their missions. Well over a third of this time was spent in the various flight simulators. Because two or more crews were likely to be in training at the same time, three CM simulators were eventually provided – one at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston and two at the Kennedy Space Center, where the astronauts relocated for the final 90 days before a flight so that they could also test mission hardware as it became available. Both centers also housed an LM simulator.
Each simulator consisted of a crew station, designed to replicate the interior environment of its spacecraft as closely as possible; an instructor station, from which the crew’s performance could be constantly monitored; a computer complex; and a series of “infinity optics” projectors that simulated what the astronauts would see as they looked out of their windows.
The simulators and projectors were controlled by state-of-the-art computers into which the projected flight could be programmed to recreate any aspect of the mission. Random faults in the spacecraft’s complex systems could also be introduced to simulate emergencies that might arise – a facility that would later prove crucial as Mission Control brainstormed procedures for bringing home the crew of the stricken Apollo 13.
One of the biggest problems facing the simulator crews was the breakneck speed at which the software had to be prepared. There was no continuity between missions: each one had to be calculated, programmed and tested separately, and the data then stored
on hand-wound coils of copper wire. Often, a last-minute modification to the hardware necessitated a total rewrite of the software. The “GNC guys” who did this at NASA inhabited a shadowy virtual world long before “geeks” and “hackers” became commonplace.
Among them was a programmer named Hal Laning – a man whose computing skills apparently knew no bounds. “Hal will do it” was a familiar cry around NASA at this time, and was picked up by Stanley Kubrick’s production team when they visited the agency to gather background material for the director’s new film: 2001

M Apollo 10 LM Pilot Gene Cernan (left) and
Commander Thomas Stafford at the controls
of KSC’s Lunar Module simulator.
A Space Odyssey (co-created, rather than based upon, the book by English writer and visionary Arthur C. Clarke). The rest, as they say, is movie history.
During the preparations for Apollo 11, some 175 personnel were still working on the development and control of the simulator software, while 200 more technicians were assigned to hardware operations and maintenance.


Piloting the CSM
While the Commander and LM pilot spent long hours getting to grips with the Lunar Module, the Command Module pilot concentrated his efforts on flying the Apollo mothership.
As well as preparing himself psychologically for the endless lone lunar orbits, the CM pilot had to rehearse docking with the LM after its return from the Moon – a task that involved running patiently through as many as 18 potential rendezvous scenarios.
The CM pilot was also responsible for one of the most
O Michael Collins at the controls of the “diabolical” centrifuge gondola during training at MSC.
critical aspects of any mission: steering the craft during reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere. This involved extra sessions on one of the most unpopular elements of astronaut training: the centrifuge. The Flight Acceleration Facility at the Manned Spacecraft Center, specially built for the Apollo program, featured a gondola attached to a 15-m (50-ft) arm that was rotated at high speed to recreate the g-forces that the astronauts were likely to experience. The simulation may have been realistic, but few astronauts had a good word to say about it. CM Pilot Michael Collins once described the whole thing as “diabolical.”




Simulating a Lunar Module landing

Training for the Moon 13
O Neil Armstrong hones his free-flying skills aboard the LLTV in June 1969, having had only a month to practice for the real thing. An earlier attempt by Armstrong to control the machine, in May of the previous year, was not so successful – the former test pilot was forced to eject moments before LLRV-1 crashed in flames (below) at Ellington Air Force Base near Houston.
One of the most hazardous and as yet untried parts of the Apollo lunar landing missions was the final descent of the LM, piloted by the mission Commander. NASA had begun preparing for this back in 1964 when they contracted Bell Aerosystems to produce a VTOL research craft called the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV).
After more than two years of testing at the NASA Flight Research Center in California, two LLRVs were shipped to Houston at the end of 1966. They were followed 12 months later by the first of three modified versions known as the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV). Formal astronaut training on the vehicles eventually began at Ellington Air Force Base near Houston in early 1968.
Powered by a single downward-facing jet engine, with solid-fuelled rocket thrusters providing attitude control, the LLTV could be raised in free flight to an altitude of 300 m (1,000 ft) but quickly proved to be notoriously difficult to control. Both Neil Armstrong and Joseph S. Algranti, head of Houston’s Aircraft Operations Office, were forced to bail out when they lost control during early tests in 1968.
The LLTV was grounded in August 1968 and again in February 1969 due to safety concerns, but both the astronauts and their support personnel insisted that NASA persevere with the machines to give them much-needed free-flying experience at medium altitudes. After a series of modifications to improve stability, officials eventually gave the go-ahead for astronaut training on the LLTV to resume in May 1969. Neil Armstrong then embarked on an intensive training schedule and made his last flight on June 16.


The Moon comes to Langley
While the LLRV familiarized replicate lunar gravity – one-astronauts with the vagaries sixth that of the Earth’s. This of controlling a VTOL craft in enabled astronauts to practice free flight, the Lunar Landing fine control of the LM’s descent Research Facility at NASA’s engine and attitude thrusters Langley Research Center while simultaneously searching simulated the final 46 m (150 ft) for a place to land on the of the LM’s descent in lunar specially recreated “lunar gravity and was the first stop surface” below them. for trainee LM pilots. Unlike the LLRV, the LEMS
The centerpiece was the proved to be a great success. Lunar Excursion Module Neil Armstrong later favourably Simulator – a prototype Apollo compared his experiences in the LM, complete with jet descent simulator with the “real thing” engine and control thrusters, in Apollo 11’s LM. suspended from a giant gantry measuring 61 m (200 ft) high
P The Lunar Excursion Module
by 120 m (400 ft) long.
Simulator (LEMS) completes The cables holding the a successful descent down to LM were counterbalanced to Langley’s “lunar surface.”

main landing
chutes (3) forward heat shield
block i coMMand Module
crew compartment heat shield
couch impact damper
positive pitch thrusters roll thrusters
block i SerVice Module
jettisoned to expose the experiments.

JOINING THE MOduLES
The SM and cM were joined together by six
compression pads, secured by tightening three
stainless steel straps bolted to the cM s heat
shield and to corresponding anchors on the
SM. on separation, the umbilical connections
between the two craft were instantly severed
by an explosive guillotine device and the SM s
thrusters fired briefly to boost it clear of the cM.




helium tanks (2)

reaction control thruster fuel cells assembly
(4 locations)
5.95 tons (13,090 lb)
north american rockwell
Service Propulsion System propellant tanks (4)
Apollo Service Module
dimensions length: 7.36 m (24 ft 2 in) diameter: 3.91 m (12 ft 10 in)
engine 1 x Service Propulsion System hypergolic-fuelled
rocket motor; 4 x quadruple
reaction control thrusters
launch weight 24.58 tons (54,074 lb)
Manufacturer north american rockwell

COMPArTMENTALIzEd
Service Propulsion System nozzle
The SM was split vertically into six unequal sections, each housing equipment and tanks for different systems. one sector was left spare for science experiments, but was not put to use until the apollo 15 mission.


16 insight

M The CM s docking





CM/LM docking system
probe (left) in the
deployed position and The folding docking probe was stored inside the tunnel and (above) just prior to was deployed by the crew just prior to docking. As the head of engagement with the
LM s conical receptor.
the probe made contact with the LM s conical receptor, three
Shown (right) is the
capture latches held the two modules steady. The probe was
complete mechanism.
then retracted, drawing the CM and LM together, at which point 12 latches on the docking ring automatically engaged to form a gas tight seal. At separation, explosive bolts jettisoned the entire mechanism along with the Lunar Module.




Command Module control systems

The main control panel dominated the guidance display and controls for fine forward part of the CM s cabin and tuning the gyros. On the right was directly faced the crew couches (whose a keypad for entering data into the leg pans could be lowered, turning them computer and in front, a separate rotation into seats). On the left sat the Mission controller for adjusting the spacecraft s Commander, whose controls included attitude. the primary flight controls and the main All in all, the CM s control tally came to Flight Director Attitude Indicator (FDAI) 24 instruments, 566 switches, 40 event as well as velocity, attitude and altitude indicators, and 71 warning lights. indicators. In the center, where he acted as navigator, the CM Pilot controlled the Guidance and Navigation computer, the warning indicator panel, the event timer,
Control System and the environmental control system. On the right, the LM Pilot doubled as flight engineer and therefore had control of the fuel cells and electrical system, as well as the spacecraft s communications.
A separate set of controls surrounded the navigation station, located on the right side of the spacecraft above the computer. The centerpiece was the optical unit containing a sextant and a scanning telescope for making star sightings. There was also an inertial
N The main control panel curved around the forward part of the cabin and measured 2.9 m (7 ft) wide by 0.9 m (3 ft) high. To the sides of the right and center couches were pairs of rotation controllers, while the left couch had a rotation controller to one side and a translation controller (for LM docking) to the other.


coMMander cM PiloT lM PiloT
events timer SM propellant and caution and
fuel cell quantity gauges attitude display
Saturn V fuel tank main computer communications environmental control

pressures keyboard
panels SM engine circuit breakers for System indicators circuit breakers for cM temperature and
rcS thruster
pressure gauges
apollo cSM 17



20 “The Eagle has landed”


Flight-testing the Lunar Module: the crew of Apollo 9


Born in Chicago on June 10, 1929, James McDivitt was originally a fighter pilot in the
U.S. Air Force, where he flew 145 combat missions during the Korean War. He went on to attend the USAF Experimental Test Pilot School and the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot Course before becoming an experimental test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base.
He joined NASA as part of the Group 2 intake of astronauts in 1962, and three years later flew alongside Ed White on Gemini 4, becoming one of only three men to serve as Commander on his maiden space flight. The highlight of the mission was White’s EVA, and McDivitt’s photographs of his fellow astronaut would go on to become some of the most famous images ever taken in space.
A few months after commanding Apollo 9, McDivitt became manager for Lunar Landing Operations – the team charged with planning future lunar exploration missions. He was then promoted to head up the Apollo Spacecraft Program, with overall responsibility for all of the remaining Apollo flights. In 1972, after overseeing the Apollo 16 mission, he left NASA and retired from the USAF to concentrate on a successful career in business – most notably with the company that built the CSM, North American Rockwell.

david r. Scott – Command Module Pilot
It was perhaps inevitable that David Scott, born on Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, on June 6, 1932, would follow his father into the skies after graduating with a bachelor of science degree from West Point in 1954. Combining flying with more studies, he went on to achieve two further degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 1962.
In October 1963, he was named alongside Schweickart in NASA’s third selection of astronauts and became the first of the group to make it into space – helping Neil Armstrong perform the first successful docking of two vehicles in orbit aboard Gemini 8.
Scott became the seventh man to walk on the Moon when he commanded the Apollo 15 mission, but the decision to sell 398 first-day cover commemorative stamps that he had taken into space landed him in hot water with NASA astronaut chief Deke Slayton. Despite clocking up more than 546 hours in space, Scott would never fly again – although he went on to serve a two-year spell as director of the Dryden Research Center.
In 2006, Scott produced Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race – a dual autobiography co-written with Soviet spacewalker Alexei Leonov. He has also worked as a consultant on a number of space-based film and TV projects, including the movie Apollo 13 and the mini-series From the Earth to the Moon.
“Rusty” Schweickart was born, appropriately enough for an astronaut, in Neptune, New Jersey on October 25, 1935. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1956, he served as a pilot in the USAF and the Air National Guard for seven years while also working at MIT’s Experimental Astronomy Laboratory.
Though Schweickart joined NASA in 1963, Apollo 9 was his first and only flight into space: he suffered badly from space sickness during the mission and was grounded for the rest of the Apollo program so that medics could study his condition. Later he served as backup commander for the first manned Skylab mission in 1973, where he played a key role in formulating the emergency repairs that helped keep the space station in orbit.
After Skylab, Schweickart moved to NASA HQ in Washington, D.C. to work in the Office of Applications, where he was responsible for disseminating NASA-developed technology to the outside world. He went on to work for Governor of California Jerry Brown and served on the state’s Energy Commission for five-and-a-half years.
Today, Schweickart is chairman of the B612 Foundation – a group dedicated to developing space flights that will help protect the Earth from potential asteroid impacts.








The Lunar “Module” (LEM) was actually a sophisticated spacecraft in its own right – and the only manned craft in history built to operate exclusively in the vacuum of space.



testing at KSC. A panel on the ascent stage has been removed, exposing some of the spacecraft s extensive avionics. The helium tank on the descent stage is also visible.
environmental control systems and avionics had to be contained within separate compartments around the cabin, giving the LM s ascent stage its ungainly “inside out” appearance.
The most problematic components were the LM s engines, both of which had to be capable of igniting reliably in space and stable enough not to shake the flimsy craft to pieces. Unlike most rocket engines, the descent engine also had to be throttleable, which presented a further design challenge. Ironically, it was the Bell designed constant thrust ascent engine that caused the most stability problems until Rocketdyne engineers came up with a solution in August 1968 by fitting baffles to the combustion chamber s injector plate.
Reconciling the LM s problems resulted in its first flight being delayed from April 1967 to January 1968, and its Earth orbit test put back from December 1968 to March 1969. It was the spacecraft on which Apollo most nearly foundered but which ultimately delivered its most spectacular success.
apollo leM 27












Carrying its crew to within a few miles of the Moon, Apollo 10 was NASA’s first and only chance to check out the hardware for a full-blown lunar landing.
The high stakes of the two upcoming Apollo missions were reflected in Deke Slayton’s crew selections, all of which included astronauts with prior experience of space (the only two occasions that this has happened in the history of American spaceflight). For Apollo 10, which was to rehearse every aspect of Apollo 11’s mission bar the landing itself, Slayton chose three Gemini veterans. Mission Commander Thomas Stafford and CM Pilot John Young had notched up two flights each in the earlier spacecraft, while LM Pilot Gene Cernan had made his maiden flight alongside Young in Gemini 9a.
For once, the astronauts’ training went smoothly, with none of the simulator access problems suffered by their predecessors. Aside from the predictable exceptions of zero-g acclimatization and visits to the centrifuge, all three appeared to relish their mission rehearsals. After the fiasco of the
O John Young during CM simulator training at KSC. Several exercises were carried out simultaneously with Thomas Stafford and Gene Cernan in the LM trainer and a live link to Mission Control in Houston.

backup crew for Apollo 9 being unable to relieve their sick colleagues, the reserve trio of Gordon Cooper, Donn Eisele and Edgar Mitchell were also put through their paces on the Apollo 10 simulators.
There was good news on the hardware, too. When Lunar Module LM-4 was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in mid-October 1968, it appeared that the problems that still plaguing the Apollo 9 LM had been resolved. With the plumbing leaks eliminated and new, tougher wiring in the circuitry, the spacecraft was given the thumbs-up by NASA engineers. The only slight area of concern was a “chugging’ noise in the descent engine that had been American Rockwell one month later.
For the mission call-signs, the crew turned for inspiration to characters from Charles M. Schulz’s popular cartoon strip Peanuts: the CM would be known as Charlie Brown, while the LM was christened Snoopy. The choice raised eyebrows among some of NASA’s more conservative officials, but the astronauts won the day by arguing that it would help the public, especially children, relate to their forthcoming mission.
Not everything about the mission preparations went smoothly, however.
20,000 liters of kerosene on the launch pad. The sudden drop in pressure caused the fuel tank bulkhead to buckle, although engineers were later able to straighten this out instead of installing a replacement.
The planned launch date also had to be switched twice. The first postponement was from May 1 to May 17 so that the crew could spend more time familiarizing themselves with the latest simulator software updates; the second delay pushed back the launch a further 24 hours so that the LM crew would have more mission time to study potential landing sites.


32 “The Eagle has landed”


Lunar trailblazers: the crew of Apollo 10 Thomas Stafford – Commander
Born on September 17, 1930 in Weatherford, Oklahoma, Stafford attended the U.S. Naval
Academy in Annapolis and graduated alongside fellow Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell in 1952.
He was commissioned into the U.S. Air Force and went on to serve in Germany as a test
pilot and flight instructor with the 496th Fighter Interceptor Squadron.

Stafford joined NASA in 1962 and made his maiden flight as pilot of Gemini 6 during
the first space rendezvous mission in December 1965. He returned to space six months
later, commanding the troubled Gemini 9a mission alongside future Apollo 10 crewmate
Gene Cernan. Stafford then became a key member of the team that devised the Apollo
mission objectives. After his own trip into lunar orbit, he also deputized for Alan Shepard
as Chief Astronaut while the latter trained for Apollo 14.
In 1975, Stafford made his fourth and final flight as commander of the historic Apollo-
Soyuz Test Project mission. He left NASA shortly afterward to head up the Air Force Flight
Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base and eventually retired from the USAF in 1979
with the rank of Lieutenant-General. Since then he has served on the boards of several
corporations, as well as heading up government and NASA committees.
John young – Command Module Pilot
The only man ever to have flown in four different classes of spacecraft, John Young was
born in San Francisco on September 24, 1930. After graduating from the Georgia Institute
of Technology in 1952, he joined the U.S. Navy – initially as a Fire Control Officer on the
USS Laws, then as a fighter pilot and then, in 1959, as a test pilot.

Young was the first of NASA’s second astronaut intake to fly in space, accompanying
Gus Grissom on Gemini 3 in March 1965 – the first American two-man flight. Following
Apollo 10, he served as backup commander for Apollo 13 and was part of the ground team
that worked on the emergency procedures to help bring the stricken crew home. Like his
Apollo 10 crewmate Gene Cernan, Young later commanded a lunar landing mission.
In 1972, Young took over from Deke Slayton as Head of the Astronaut Office, but still
found the time to make two further flights into space: first as commander of the maiden
flight of the Shuttle, then as leader of STS-9, the first Spacelab mission. He was slated for a
third Shuttle mission, but missed out in the wake of the 1986 Challenger disaster.
Young continued to work for NASA in various administrative roles before retiring on
the final day of 2004. He still regularly attends astronaut meetings at JSC and remains a
forceful advocate for the establishment of a permanent human presence on the Moon.


Eugene Cernan – Lunar Module Pilot
The son of a Slovak father and a Czech mother, Cernan was born in Chicago on March 14,
1939. He obtained a degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, Indiana (the
alma mater of 21 other astronauts, including Gus Grissom and Neil Armstrong), and went
on to join the U.S. Navy as a jet pilot after training with the college’s Reserve Officers
Training Corps.

Following his dream of “riding a rocket ship into space,” Cernan joined NASA in 1963
and served as pilot on Gemini 9a, where he became only the second U.S. astronaut to
perform an EVA. After his “close encounter” aboard Apollo 10, Cernan finally made it to
the lunar surface as Commander of Apollo 17 and earned enduring fame as the last man
ever to walk on the Moon. He left NASA and the Navy in 1976 and went on to establish
his own aerospace consultancy, the Cernan Corporation, as well as serving as chair of the
Johnson Engineering Corporation. He also became a familiar face on ABC TV’s coverage
of the Space Shuttle missions. In 2010, Cernan and Neil Armstrong – the last and first men


M Cernan, Young and Stafford in cheerful to walk on the Moon – teamed up at Senate hearings to oppose President Obama’s plans to mood during water egress training for
scrap NASA’s initiative to return to the Moon, the Constellation Program. their forthcoming Apollo 10 mission.





36 “The Eagle has landed”



Into lunar orbit
In sharp contrast to their ride into Earth orbit, Apollo 10 s three day coast to the Moon proved to be uneventful. The crew made only one mid course correction along the way, placing them on a similar trajectory to the one planned for Apollo 11 s lunar landing mission in July.
The first task was to put the spacecraft in lunar orbit, which had to be carried out as it travelled around the lunar far side – out of radio contact with Mission Control. A six minute burn of the SPS did its job, and shortly afterward, Tom Stafford broke radio silence with the words: “This is Apollo 10. You can tell the world we have arrived.
Six hours after lunar insertion, Stafford and Cernan entered the LM for the first wasn t critical and Young eased the CSM time since launch. They were greeted by a away without any noticeable problem. Even shower of glass fiber strands – insulation he, so he still maneuvered his craft so that from the forward CM hatch that had both he and ground controllers could make been torn loose during the shaky ascent a thorough inspection of the outside of and sucked through a vent in the docking the docking tunnel courtesy of the CSM s tunnel. Once the mess had been cleared and external TV camera. All seemed well. the systems checked, the pair closed up the After the LM s landing gear had been LM and rejoined Young for some rest. deployed successfully, Stafford and Cernan
The LM crew returned bright and fresh confirmed that all systems were go. Young on the morning of May 22 to prepare for then pulled the CSM clear to allow Stafford their historic journey, only to find that the to fire up Snoopy’s descent engine in the docked Lunar Module had slipped ever so first of two burns that would drop the LM slightly out of alignment with the CSM. into a steadily lower lunar orbit. This raised the fear that separation might Mission Control joined Stafford and cause some of the latching pins on the Cernan in breathing a large sigh of relief docking ring to tear off and prevent the as the engine roared into life. Just 111 km two spacecraft from re docking. Houston (69 miles) below them, the ghostly grey reassured the astronauts that the anomaly surface of another world beckoned.
P a contemporary naSa illustration showing the movement of the Moon relative to the earth during an apollo mission. The lunar far side is always out of our sight due to the gravitational effect known as captured rotation, which causes the earth and the Moon to spin at exactly the same rate. inserting apollo into lunar orbit on the far side made the best use of the Moon s gravity and saved precious fuel.



Almost there
Even after two years of poring over maps, photographs and simulations of the lunar surface, Stafford and Cernan were still taken aback by the eerie desolation of the landscape as they gazed out of the LM s windows. To their amazement, a second burn of Snoopy’s descent engine had pitched them into a low elliptical orbit that would carry them to within 14 km (8.5 miles) of the Moon, exactly as planned. Travelling at just under 6,000 km/h (3,730 mph), they raced over the Sea of Tranquility with Stafford taking pictures and giving a running commentary while Cernan kept an eye on the read outs from the computers and landing radar.
The astronauts then looped back out
into space for a second pass over the
proposed Apollo 11 landing site, during
which they would simulate Apollo 11 s
launch back into lunar orbit by jettisoning
the descent stage and firing the ascent
stage. As Stafford closed in, he described
the area earmarked for the landing: “Okay,
we are coming up over the site. There s
plenty of holes there. The surface is actually
very smooth… with the exception of the
very big craters.
Stafford jettisoned the descent stage
without any problems and then waited
the allotted 10 minutes to fire up the
LM s barely tested ascent engine. But no
sooner had he brought the engine to life
than Snoopy began pitching wildly out of


dress rehearsal 39

control. With the LM lurching from side to side, Stafford decided to take manual control. After three minutes of near panic spent wrestling with the RCS thrusters, the spacecraft stabilized.
A stunned Gene Cernan exclaimed:
Son of a bitch! I don t know what the hell

M Snoopy rises up into position to re dock with charlie brown, the drogue toward the bottom of the picture.
that was, baby. The thing just took off on us… we were wobbling all over the sky. Mission Control then informed the crew that they had accidentally switched the LM to automatic mode, rather than activating the Abort Guidance System (AGS) as they were supposed to. It turned out, however, that Cernan had indeed switched over to AGS, but Stafford thought this was a mistake and switched them back again. Luckily, none of the ascent stage s systems appeared to be any the worse for wear.
The ascent engine burn pulled the LM back up to within 78 km (49 miles) of the CSM, leaving the laws of orbital mechanics to do the rest. With the two spacecraft just meters apart, Young maneuvered the CSM s docking probe into the LM s drogue. After more than eight hours apart, Snoopy and Charlie Brown were reunited.
O An oblique view of the lunar surface taken shortly before Tom Stafford s 70mm Hasselblad camera jammed – an unfortunate glitch in an otherwise successful reconnaissance mission.
dress rehearsal 41


Charlie Brown sprints home to a Pacific reunion


With the LM crew safely back in the CSM, their temporary home was cut loose. Mission Control then fired the ascent engine one last time to send the LM into an orbit around the Sun, where it remains to this day. Meanwhile, Stafford and Cernan returned to their earlier task of tracking landmarks on the lunar surface while Young continued to pilot them around the Moon.
After more than 61 hours and 31 lunar orbits, a burn of the CSM’s SPS engine fired Apollo 10 on a trajectory back to Earth. As the astronauts sped homeward, they passed the time making further navigational star sightings and performing more live TV broadcasts – one of which featured them whistling along to the song “Come Fly with Me.” They also flew into the record books: to make their planned splashdown target, and with only one small course correction, the CSM’s speed was maintained at 39,897 km/h (24,791 mph) – the fastest human beings have ever travelled.
Three days on from its lunar adventure, Apollo 10 reentered the Earth’s atmosphere on May 26 and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, 690 km (429 miles) off the eastern
O Commander Tom Stafford broadcasts to the watching millions on Earth during Apollo 10’s record-breaking journey home. Given the difficulties NASA had been in just two years before, it was a remarkable triumph: all of the mission objectives had been accomplished, blazing the trail for a lunar landing attempt two months later.

coast of American Samoa. Within an hour, the crew were on board the recovery ship USS Princeton.
Naturally enough, the mission debriefing revealed that there were still areas for improvement – the pounding meted out to the crew during launch, the problems with the hatch insulation, recurring feedback on the CSM/LM communications, and a tightening up of switching procedures. Even so, the 192-hour mission of Apollo 10 had gone as well as anyone could have expected. An accurate lunar flight plan had now been established, all the key flight phases had been shown to work, and planners now had a far more reliable model of the Moon’s uneven gravitational field. Everything was in place to take a shot at the “Big One.”
O Cernan, Stafford and Young emerge from the recovery helicopter after being transferred to the USS Princeton, to be welcomed by Chief of Recovery Operations Donald Stullken. Watching the apparent smoothness of the mission, many on Earth wondered why NASA hadn’t been tempted to go the “whole hog.” What few outsiders realized is that the agency had already pushed its luck a long, long way.





Soyuz 4 and 5: a glimmer of hope in a bad year


of two manned spacecraft.
Ignoring traditional superstition, Soviet officials picked January 13 as the launch date for the first of two Soyuz spacecraft intended to dock in orbit. But as luck would have it, there was a last-minute critical gyroscope failure in the Soyuz rocket, and the single occupant, 41-year.old cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov, was asked to disembark. As he went through the unfamiliar procedure of scrambling out of the spacecraft and descending the elevator of the launch pad gantry, Shatalov joked that he had just made the most accurate “landing” of all time.
The next day, things improved. With the gyro fixed, the launch of Soyuz 4 went without a hitch.
Just 24 hours later, Shatalov was joined in orbit by Soyuz 5 and its three-man crew: Vladimir Volynov, Yevgeny Khrunov and Alexei Eliseev. Mindful of the problems that had dogged Georgi Beregovoi’s failed docking attempt in Soyuz 3 the previous October, mission planners conservatively scheduled the docking to take place on the second day in orbit, within range of ground control in the Crimea. On January 16, the two Soyuz met up exactly as planned and performed a perfect docking in which Shatalov manually piloted Soyuz 4 – the “active” of the two craft – through the critical final few meters.
Immediately Khrunov and Eliseev aboard Soyuz 5 began preparing for their spacewalk while Volynov locked himself in the crew module so that the habitation module could be depressurized to act as an airlock. Less than an hour later, after inching along the handrails provided on the ships’ exterior, the two cosmonauts dropped through the entry hatch of Soyuz 4. With them they brought Moscow newspapers from the previous morning announcing Shatalov’s successful launch. Unfortunately, historic film of the spacewalkers’ own journey was lost when their hand-held camera flew off into space, leaving only a handful of grainy TV images to record the event.

After four-and-a-half hours joined together, the two ships parted. Soyuz 4, with Shatalov, Khrunov and Eliseev aboard, made a trouble-free landing on January 17. Volynov, who was scheduled to take Soyuz 5 down the following day, was not so lucky.
As his spacecraft went through its braking and reentry maneuvers, Volnyov soon discovered that the service module had failed to separate from the crew module on time, preventing the crew module from adopting the correct heat.shield-first attitude for its perilous descent through the Earth’s atmosphere.
Instead, the capsule plunged into the atmosphere entrance hatch-first, exposing the most vulnerable part of the spacecraft to a fiery ordeal for which it had never been designed. And, just in case Volynov was in any doubt about his predicament, the brutal additional g-forces wrenched him from his seat and forced him painfully against his safety harness.
More worrying still for Volynov was the relentless heat load on the main hatch, as smell of burning rubber, the service module parted company at last and the crew module righted itself.


Still Volynov’s troubles were not over. The crew module continued spinning like

receiving visitors.
a carousel, creating very real fears that the descent parachutes would fail and cause a Komarov-style crash-landing. Fortunately, they deployed – but the crew module was
still travelling far too fast and hit it the ground with a mighty crash. Volynov received a violent jolt on the back of the head that shattered the teeth in his upper jaw. He crawled out of the smoke-filled cabin peppered with burnt fragments of resin insulation; that he survived at all was nothing short of miraculous.
There was a violent postscript to the mission, too, when the four cosmonauts made a triumphant return to Moscow on January 22. As their cavalcade entered the Kremlin, a gunman opened fire after mistaking their car for that of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, killing the driver and wounding an escort rider. What had begun well had ended badly – and there was worse news to follow from the builders of the rocket designed to take Soyuz to the Moon.


44 “The Eagle has landed”




Soviet missions to Mars and venus

despite the mixed fortunes of the Soviet union’s manned spaceflight program, the nation remained determined to reach out to the Earth’s nearest neighbors with a fresh pair of interplanetary probes.
After an 18 month break, the USSR resumed its scientific assault on Venus with the launch of Veneras 5 and 6 in January 1969. Given the experience of Venera 4, which in 1967 had broken up rapidly in the planet s ultra pressurized and superheated atmosphere, the 405 kg (893 lb) landing capsules on the new probes were strengthened to withstand forces of 450 g (compared with 300 g for Venera 4).

The task was made easier by the contact with ground control for 53 minutes realization that there were no oceans as it fell to within 25 km (15 miles) of the on Venus and that the landers were not surface. At this point it broke up under a required to float. Although the two craft pressure of around 27 bar (392 psi) and were still incapable of surviving as far temperatures approaching 530 C (930 F). as the surface, scientists hoped that by A day later, Venera 6 did better still, reinforcing the landers and making their descending to an altitude of 11 km (6.8
braking parachutes smaller, they would at miles) during its 51 minute communication least be able to penetrate deeper into the with Earth. Soviet scientists were delighted. planet s atmosphere. Despite not reaching the surface, little by
Venera 5 s lander was successfully little they were beginning to unravel the deployed on May 16 and maintained inhospitable planet s mysteries.


Mars probes fail to match venera’s success
Spring 1969 was also the launch window for a pair of new generation Soviet Mars probes that had been hastily assembled by the Lavochkin design bureau to harness the muscle of the Proton rocket which launched the Soyuz 7K L1 circumlunar missions.
solar orientation
Known as the Mars 69 series, the
sensor
two 3.8 ton spacecraft were originally
O Technicians
conceived to enter Martian orbit and

prepare a Mars 69 deploy Luna style landers on the surface. probe for launch. The star tracker The landers had to be dropped, however, Mars 69 series were due to their weight. Instead, beginning in considerably bigger
than their predecessors
mid September 1969, the orbiting probes
orbital module
thanks to the superior
were configured train their cameras on
lifting capability of their
Mars as they passed to within 500 km (310
Proton launch vehicle.
miles) of the surface.
But the Proton s On March 27, the first of the M 69 reliability was no match orbiters, No. 240/521, lifted off from for its muscle. Baikonur. Seven minutes later, one of the Proton s third stage engines exploded, leaving remnants of the probe to fall into

landing capsule the Altai Mountains. An attempt to launch a sister ship on April 2, 1969, ended even more abruptly. A fraction of a second after liftoff, black smoke spewed from the base of the rocket as one of the first stage engines exploded. Luckily, the remaining five engines carried the rocket away from the launch complex, sparing the pad a catastrophe. Just 41 seconds later, though, the rocket arched over the heads of horrified onlookers and

The uSSr: so near, yet so far 45
N Veneras 5 and 6 were similar in layout to Venera 4 but with strengthened spherical landing capsules attached to one end of the spacecraft s main
hub. The landers
were pressure tested
in a centrifuge to
withstand forces of up
to 450 g.
46 “The Eagle has landed”




Shooting at the Moon


Almost until the last, the Soviet union endeavoured to keep up appearances that it was still a serious contender in the Moon race. The reality was depressingly different.
Soviet hopes of sending men to the Moon had one final ace to play – in the shape of
rested on two Soyuz-based spacecraft: the two robotic soft landers that would gather
Proton-launched 7K-L1 circumlunar craft soil samples from the Moon and returning
and the L3 lunar landing complex, to be them to Earth. To achieve such a feat before
launched by the giant N1. But by the start an Apollo manned landing would have
of 1969, as NASA celebrated Apollo 8’s been a major scientific coup – as well as
lunar orbital mission, the N1 had yet to stealing some of NASA’s thunder. Time,
leave the ground, and the L1, which could however, was running out…
only loop around, not orbit, the Moon, was Built by the Lavochkin design bureau,
still far from ready for manned flight. the E-8-5 landers were known as the
Even so, there was still some advantage Lunocherpalka (“lunar scooper”). They
to be gained by continuing the L1 program, M An unidentified L1 circumlunar spacecraft lifts consisted of two parts – a landing platform
not least because the hardware already off aboard a Proton launcher. Unfortunately for borrowed from the Lunokhod project and
existed and Soviet engineers stood to Soviet mission planners, the Proton’s reliability an ascent stage with its own propulsion
learn an enormous amount by testing it. was still very much in question at this time. system. Samples were to be gathered
So it was that on January 20, the USSR by a lowering a drilling mechanism to
attempted to launch L1 number 13 on Lunokhod to roll onto the lunar surface. the surface on a robotic boom and then
another unmanned loop around the Moon. Had the mission been successful, the injecting the drill cores into the ascent
Unfotunately, both the second and third Soviet press would have been quick to stage, which would blast them back to
stages of its Proton launcher gave trouble, claim that robots were more effective than Earth. Shortly before hitting the Earth’s
although the spacecraft itself was recovered astronauts for exploring the Moon – a line atmosphere, the 40 kg (88 lb) capsule
after yet another successful deployment of they took anyway during the post-Apollo containing the samples would separate
the emergency escape system. era. But it was not to be: 51 seconds after from the rest of the craft and land by
A month later, just two days before the lift-off, as the Proton reached its point parachute.
fateful first test of the N1, another Proton of maximum stress, the shroud encasing Like their Lunokhod sister ships, the
attempted to lift off from Baikonur. This its cargo cracked like an eggshell and E-8-5 probes relied on Proton to get them
time it carried the innovative lunar rover disintegrated. An emergency command to the Moon – and yet again, the rocket
that would later become known to the then shut down what was left of the rocket. turned out to be the weak link in the chain.
world as Lunokhod. The eight-wheeled After the disastrous failure of the N1 The first launch, on June 14, suffered a
vehicle rode on top of a descent engine and test two days later, Soviet lunar exploration Block-D upper stage failure and plunged its
a cluster of propellant tanks that together plans appeared to be in ruins. But, as the cargo into the Pacific Ocean. That left just
formed a landing platform. This would N1 was hastily made ready for a second test one spacecraft – and one month – to beat
touch down and deploy a ramp, enabling later in the summer, mission planners still Apollo to the surface of the Moon.



The uSSr: so near, yet so far 47




48 “The Eagle has landed”



The N1: a giant with feet of clay
After its troubled development, the giant N1 rocket arrived too late to influence the course of the Moon race – and even then, it was far from ready. But on February 9, 1969, at a key meeting of the State Commission overseeing the project, the first launch of the rocket known simply as “Test Vehicle No. 3L” was set for February 18 from Site 110 at Baikonur.
Within its payload shroud, the 105 m (345 ft) colossus carried a prototype of the LOK lunar orbiting spacecraft, the 7K-L1S, which had been hastily assembled from hardware originally intended for the L1 project. The ambitious flight plan called for the unmanned 7K-L1S to enter lunar orbit and then fly back to Earth.
Last-minute delays pushed the launch back to February 20 and low cloud kept the N1 grounded for another day. Finally, on February 21, the giant rocket lifted off around noon local time. Although the N1 cleared the launch pad safely, barely more than a minute into the flight, shocked witnesses saw the tongue of flame beneath the first stage fizzle out. Just under two Telemetry revealed that the rocket’s minutes later, 183 seconds after lift-off, the problems had started just after ignition. N1 crashed 52 km (33 miles) downrange. The flight control system detected a fault
in one of the 30 first-stage engines and switched it off, along with its opposite number to balance the thrust. Seconds later, excessive vibration caused propellant leaks throughout the first stage, resulting in a total engine shutdown after 69 seconds.
N1 development chief Vasily Mishin tried put a positive spin on the episode: at least the rocket had proved that it could fly. He gave orders for the problems to be fixed ready for a second launch attempt, which took place on the night of July 3/4.
This time, one of the first stage engines blew up a fraction of a second after a lift-off, triggering a chain reaction at the base of the rocket. The N1 was only a few meters off the ground when the disrupted flight control system shut off all but one engine. This caused the entire rocket to skew as it fell back onto the pad, where it exploded with Earth-shattering force.
American spy satellites, which had been closely monitoring developments at Baikonur’s sprawling Site 110 complex, now recorded scenes of what appeared to be total devastation. In the meantime, gloomy Soviet engineers poked through the wreckage and pored over endless streams of telemetry data in an effort to find out what had happened. The exact cause of the failure proved impossible to pinpoint, but one thing was clear: the rocket on which the Soviet Union had pinned its hopes of a manned lunar landing wouldn’t be flying again any time soon, while NASA was just two weeks away from claiming the big prize.


M Resembling the tower of some romantic fairy-tale castle, the N1 lifts off from Baikonur. This photograph is actually of the rocket’s third test, which didn’t take place until the early hours of June 27, 1971. Few visual records remain of the N1’s first two disastrous launches.


52 insight


lk lunar lander
The one-man Lunniy Korabl (LK) lunar lander was one of the Space race’s great “might-have-beens” – a fascinating little spacecraft that made up in ingenuity for what it lacked in technological sophistication. Sadly, it never flew to the Moon.
Like the Apollo Lunar Module, the Lunniy Korabl ( lunar craft”) consisted of two parts a habitable module and a landing platform. Unlike the LM, however, the LK used its Block E engine both to control its final descent and for the upward journey to re dock with its LOK parent craft in lunar orbit. To ensure redundancy, the hypergolic fuelled, single chambered main engine was backed up by a twin chamber emergency engine that would cut in automatically if the main one failed. The landing platform consisted of a tubular framework with folding telescopic legs and was to be left on the Moon.
Another key difference between the two spacecraft was the absence in the LK of a pressurized docking tunnel. This saved weight and also greatly simplified the docking procedure but at the expense of the Moonwalking cosmonaut, who would have to spacewalk between the LK and the LOK. Given the success of the Soyuz 4 and 5 docking mission, the risk was considered acceptable.
Like all Soviet spacecraft, the cabin environment was an air like mixture of oxygen and nitrogen. The temperature was controlled by an alcohol powered vaporization unit.
The LK lander s descent was fine tuned by the flight control system s onboard computer via four sets of attitude thrusters housed in a separate unit above the cabin. Like the Apollo LM, the pilot could switch to manual override should the situation demand it and then steer the craft to a final touchdown.
Along with its single occupant, the LK was designed to carry up to 105 kg (231 lb) of science experiments, including a 59 kg (130 lb) robotic surface drill

M An LK lander under construction. A prototype of the spacecraft was eventually tested in Earth orbit during the early 1970s but never made it as far as the Moon.
with an operational life of one hour. The lander also had provision for carrying mini modules on the exterior that could be deployed some distance away from the landing site. This compensated somewhat for the limitations imposed by having a single cosmonaut.







Preparing for Apollo 11


As the clock ticked down to the launch of Apollo 11, space fever began to grip the world. The vietnam War was relegated to the inside pages as thoughts turned to what promised to be mankind’s greatest-ever technological achievement.
Inevitably, much of the interest leading up to the launch of Apollo 11 was focused on the crew – and, in particular, on the two men who would set foot on the Moon. Many inside NASA, including Buzz Aldrin, assumed that he would be the first man out, following the principles established during the Gemini missions when the commander remained inside the spacecraft and the junior crewman performed the EVAs. Indeed, the initial plans for Apollo clearly stated that the LM Pilot would exit first.
However, by the spring of 1969, Apollo’s mission planners were having second thoughts. In March, a lunar surface operations meeting agreed that for operational reasons, Armstrong should be the first out. When rumours of a possible switch reached Aldrin, he demanded that NASA publicly settle the issue.
Agency executives were looking at the bigger picture. As Director of Flight Operations, Chris Kraft noted: “The first man on the Moon would be a legend… an American hero beyond Lucky Lindbergh… beyond any soldier or politician or inventor.” While no one doubted Aldrin’s
P Apollo 11’s Command and Service Module, CSM-107, is installed in the altitude chamber at KSC’s Manned Spacecraft Operations Building for final pressure testing. The tests were completed on March 25. Certifying the Lunar Module took longer, and ultimately rested on feedback gained from Apollo 10’s mission in May.

abilities as an astronaut, some regarded him as a little too brash and pushy. Kraft conferred with astronaut manager Deke Slayton and George Low, head of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, and came to a decision. At a press conference on April 14, Low finally announced that “plans call for Mr. Armstrong to be the
less flip than the cartoon characters used by checks followed, with extra scrutiny placed
Apollo 10. Initially the names “Snowcone” on the Lunar Module – the one element yet
and “Haystack” were used, while the crew to be proved in like-for-like conditions. The
suggested “Romeo” and “Juliet.” Clearly, LM inevitably contained a few niggles but
something more patriotic was needed. nothing to worry the technicians unduly

The choice of Columbia for the CSM – nothing, that is, apart from the thought not only evoked Columbus’s voyage to the that they would be signing off a craft that New World, but also “Columbiad” – the had still only logged a handful of hours in giant cannon that had launched spaceships the inhospitable lunar environment. in Jules Verne’s novel From The Earth To As NASA staff across the nation steeled The Moon. At the suggestion of back-up themselves for the biggest gamble of all, commander Jim Lovell, the LM was named there was little more for anyone to do but Eagle after the bald eagle, the U.S. national wait and hope. On July 15, as the Saturn V bird, which also featured on Michael carrying Apollo 11 continued its terminal Collins’ design for the mission patch. countdown, the crew gave one last TV
The spacecraft themselves arrived at interview. The following morning, they KSC during the first few weeks of 1969, set out on their journey to meet Kennedy’s


M The “father of the Saturn V,” Wernher von
followed shortly afterward by the three deadline – a journey from which even the
Braun, stands in front of launch vehicle AS-506 stages of their Saturn V launcher. More most optimistic of mission planners could as it undergoes final preparations for the historic than four months of intensive tests and not guarantee they would ever return. flight of Apollo 11.

56
“
T
h
e E
a
g
l
e h
a
s l
a
n
d
e
d
”




Apollo 11 Commander: Neil A. Armstrong

Supremely dedicated and courageous but

O Armstrong goes through the Apollo 11 flight plans one more
also reserved and analytical, Neil Alden
Armstrong had always been one of the
time inside KSC’s
outstanding candidates on Deke Slayton’s
Manned Spaceflight
astronaut roster.
Operations Building.
Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930,
Two days later, he
on a farm belonging to his grandparents
would be on his way
to the Moon. In his
near Wapakoneta, Ohio, and became
memoirs, Deke Slayton insisted that Armstrong
obsessed with aviation after flying in a Ford
Tri-Motor (“Tin Goose”) at the tender age
was only one of several
of six. He started taking flying lessons as
candidates in line to
a 15-year-old and had obtained a pilot’s
command the first
licence within a year.
lunar landing mission
In 1947, he went to Purdue University
and that he got the
job simply because of the way the missions
to study aeronautical engineering on a
U.S. Navy scholarship but was called up
panned out. But
for active duty after 18 months. Following
Armstrong did not
training he was posted to Korea, where
disappoint.
he flew 78 combat missions from the aircraft carrier USS Essex. He resumed his studies in 1952 and after graduating three years later went to work for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in Cleveland, Ohio. Within a few months he had landed a job as a test pilot at the High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where he went Vehicle went smoothly enough, but the wanted to shake the hand of the first man on to fly more than 200 different types of combined craft began to pitch and roll to walk on the Moon, and he was the aircraft, notably the X-15 rocket plane. wildly. Remaining calm under pressure, recipient of a host of international awards,
Despite submitting his application a Armstrong was able to undock the Gemini including the Medal of Freedom – the month late, Armstrong was accepted onto and use its retro-rockets to regain control highest U.S. civilian honor. NASA’s “Next Nine” roster of astronauts before steering the capsule home to an In 1970, Armstrong was appointed in 1962. After four years of training, he emergency landing in the Pacific Ocean. NASA Deputy Associate Administrator flew his first space mission as command As commander of the historic Apollo for Aeronautics but stayed in the role pilot of Gemini 8 alongside David Scott. 11 mission, Armstrong became one of the only 13 months, opting instead for the The planned docking with an Agena Target most famous people on the planet. Everyone relative obscurity of a professorship
at the University of Cincinnati. While there, he accepted the occasional product endorsement offer, as well as several company directorships, but by and large he continued to shun the limelight and rarely talked in public about his experiences.
In 1986, however, Armstrong agreed to serve as vice-chairman of the Rogers Commission investigating the Challenger disaster. He returned to the spotlight once again in 2010 as a vocal campaigner against U.S. government plans to scrap the Constellation Program – NASA’s planned return to the Moon.
O Armstrong during the countdown for the Gemini 8 mission. The coolness under pressure he displayed during GT-8’s subsequent docking problems singled him out as a potential Commander for an Apollo lunar landing mission.



for all mankind 59


Apollo 11 Lunar Module pilot: Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin



Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. was born on January 20, 1930, in Montclair, New Jersey. His father, Edwin Sr., had been a student of the great American rocket pioneer Robert Goddard and later rose to the rank of colonel in the U.S Air Force. The younger Aldrin picked up the nickname “Buzz” as a child after his sister kept calling him “buzzer” instead of “brother.”
After graduating from West Point Military Academy in 1951, Aldrin followed his father into the USAF. Like many other astronauts, he went on to make a name for himself as a fighter pilot in the Korean War, where he flew 66 missions, shot down two MiG-15s and earned himself the Distinguished Flying Cross. During the late 1950s, he developed a keen interest in the emerging U.S. space program. However, rather than following the traditional astronaut route by becoming a test pilot as he had intended, Aldrin enrolled on an engineering course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His doctoral Gemini 10, with only two more missions thesis, titled Guidance for Manned Orbital left in the program his chances of getting Rendezvous, was of vital importance in into space were beginning to look slim. planning the Gemini and Apollo programs. Ironically, the tragic deaths in a plane crash
After a spell working for the Air Force of the original Gemini 9 prime crew, Elliot Systems Command in Los Angeles, Aldrin See and Charles Bassett, changed Aldrin’s the perfect chance to show off both his joined NASA in October 1963 – the first life forever. He was immediately switched theoretical knowledge and the experience member of the astronaut corps never to the backup crew for that mission, and he had gained during more than 2,000 to have been a test pilot. Although he thanks to Deke Slayton’s crew rotation hours of training. Together with command played a key role in developing rendezvous policy, this put him in line to fly on the final pilot Jim Lovell, he pulled off a manual techniques for Gemini and was eventually Gemini flight, GT-12. docking with an Agena Target Vehicle assigned a place on the backup crew for Gemini 12 offered “Dr. Rendezvous” and went on to make three separate EVAs,
during which he proved that astronauts
P Aldrin (left) and Jim

could work comfortably outside their
Lovell are welcomed
spacecraft.
aboard the USS Wasp
Aldrin’s success secured him a place on
following the end
the Apollo 8 backup crew which in turn
of their successful
earned him a ride with Armstrong’s crew
GT-12 mission in November 1966.
on Apollo 11. His status as the second
Aldrin’s outspokenness
man to walk on the Moon brought him
during the earlier
worldwide celebrity. But once the furore
Gemini missions
had died down, he struggled more than
had marked him
most to come to terms with “normal”
down as a “difficult”
life back on Earth. He left NASA in
character, but the
1971 and retired from the Air Force the
cool professionalism he showed during his
following year.Aldrin later wrote two
three Gemini 12 EVAs
autobiographies in which he talked frankly
greatly impressed
about his struggles with alcoholism and
NASA bosses.
depression. Today, though, he has put his life in order and travels the world lecturing and promoting his own ambitions vision of the future of space exploration, which includes manned missions to Mars.

for all mankind 61


Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot: Michael Collins



The son of a major general in the U.S. Army, Michael Collins was born on October 30, 1930, in the Italian capital city of Rome. Following in the family tradition, he went on to study at the West Point Military Academy and graduated in the same class as another future astronaut, the ill-fated Ed White, in 1952.
Armed with a bachelor of science degree and a growing interest in aeronautics, Collins opted to join the Air Force rather than the Army and trained at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi. After finishing his advanced training, he served as a fighter pilot in France and West Germany.
In 1960, Collins successfully applied to join the Experimental Flight Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where he excelled in an intake that also included future Apollo astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Irwin. He was subsequently selected to serve in the elite fighter operations group.

Inspired by John Glenn’s orbit of the
Earth in Friendship 7 in 1962, Collins in 1966. Flying with John Young, Collins M Collins and NASA technician Joe Schmitt
immediately applied to become a NASA orbited higher than any man had ever gone during the astronaut’s suit-up for Apollo 11.
Although he was the “third man,” destined to
astronaut. Although initially rejected, he before and completed two successful EVAs.
remain in lunar orbit, Collins never doubted that
was taken on the following year alongside, Originally slated for the second manned
he had an equally important role to play in the
among others, future Apollo 11 crewmate Apollo mission, Collins and his crew were
mission’s success.
Buzz Aldrin. His first flight into space was moved down the roster after the Apollo 1
as pilot on the three-day Gemini 10 mission tragedy. Then, due to crewmate Bill Anders’ lack of spaceflight experience, Collins was Apollo 11. Ironically, it was the success of
N Collins (left) and made CM Pilot – a decision that would the earlier missions on which he had missed
astronaut boss Deke cost him a chance to walk on the Moon. out that ensured him a place on the most
Slayton following their
Collins’s crew eventually flew on Apollo 9, famous space flight in history.
final zero-g training
but Collins himself missed out after being In January 1970, Collins quit NASA to
flight together in a
hospitalized for back surgery. work in government as Assistant Secretary
T-38. Seven days later,
Once he resumed training, Collins of State for Public Affairs. A year later,
Collins would be in zero gravity for real aboard found himself reassigned as CM pilot on he became Director of the National Air Apollo 11. and Space Museum, where he successfully oversaw the opening of a new museum building in 1976. He stepped down from the role two years later, at the same time retiring from the USAF, and became under.secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. During the 1980s, he became vice president of aerospace company LTV before setting up his own consultancy. An accomplished watercolour artist, Collins has also made a name for himself as a writer and has several best-selling books to his name. His 1974 account, Carrying the Fire, is widely regarded as one of the finest of astronaut autobiographies ever written, and he also wrote a version of his experiences for children entitled Flying to the Moon and Other Strange Places.
62 insight




apollo spacesuit
The suits worn by the spacewalking Gemini astronauts had worked well enough, but offered limited mobility. For Apollo, NASA stepped up its game.
The problem with the Gemini EVA suit had been a tendency to balloon when pressurized, restricting movement of the limbs. The suit also relied on an umbilical from the spacecraft to keep it supplied with oxygen. Clearly, astronauts walking on the surface of the Moon would require something more flexible, as well as their own independent life support system.
The answer came in the form of the Apollo Extra vehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), built for NASA by ILC Dover and aircraft propeller manufacturer Hamilton Standard at a cost of some $3 million each. The new suit featured a redesigned semi rigid pressure garment cooled by water instead of oxygen. Though cumbersome to wear on Earth, this effectively removed the ballooning problem and allowed flexibility of the limb joints under all conditions. Integral with the suit was the back mounted Portable Life Support System (PLSS), which contained
enough oxygen for up to seven hours of EVA, as well as a M The spacesuit worn by Neil Armstrong for the Apollo 11 mission, showing water pressurization pump and heat exchanger. Pressurized Garment Assembly (PGA) and liquid cooled undergarment (left) .




66 “The Eagle has landed”


Apollo 11’s journey to the Moon

After one and a half orbits of the Earth, a faultless six minute second burn of the Saturn V s S IVB third stage kicked Apollo 11 into its translunar trajectory. With the spacecraft now travelling at close to 38,000 km/h (24,000 mph), Collins swapped places with Armstrong to take control of the Command Module for the first time.
The CM Pilot s first task was to ease Columbia away from the Spacecraft Adapter housing the Lunar Module, rotate the CM through 180 , and then dock with the LM. The maneuver went more or less according to plan, although the perfectionist in Collins chastised himself for using a little more fuel than he intended.
Collins then unstrapped himself to check the integrity of the equipment in the docking tunnel. When he opened the docking hatch, he was almost overcome by a powerful odour. Thankfully, it proved to be harmless and would later become known to astronauts as “the smell of space. Returning to his seat, Collins then eased the newly conjoined LM out of the Adapter casing so that Apollo 11 could complete its three day coast to the Moon.
As space travel goes, the journey was uneventful. Aldrin later recalled that the astronauts “just kind of gazed out the window at the Earth getting smaller and smaller… did housekeeping things… checked the spacecraft.” On the second day, the crew made a total of four live TV broadcasts back to Earth, including the now traditional tour of the LM. There was no sign of the Moon, which was travelling at its usual 3,679 km/h (2,286 mph) around the Earth. But with the aid of only one mid course correction, both crew and spacecraft were on track for a lunar rendezvous in just 36 hours’ time.


for all mankind 67
O CM pilot Michael Collins took this stunning photo of a cloud speckled Earth, looking east toward the Sun. His original intention had been to capture the sunrise, but he managed to misplace his camera at the crucial moment.
N A poster showing the critical stages of Apollo 11 s entire journey, prepared for the National Air and Space Museum in Washington by the Smithsonian Institution. The graphic can be viewed interactively online at www. nasm. si.edu/exhibitions/attm/ flightpath/a11.steps


for all mankind 69
Flight Director Gene Kranz gave the crew permission to separate.
As Apollo 11 moved out of contact with the Earth, Armstrong fined tuned the AGS while Aldrin and Collins kept in radio contact. There was just time for Aldrin to set up a 16 mm film camera in his window before Collins pushed the button releasing the latches on the docking mechanism. The two craft gently separated with a rush of escaping gas as Collins exclaimed: “Okay, there you go. Beautiful!
It took another 3. minutes for Mission Control to regain contact with Apollo 11, but the signals quickly confirmed that they were talking to two separate spacecraft: Charlie Duke (Capcom): “Eagle, Houston. We see you on the steerable. Over. Armstrong: “Roger. “Eagle s undocked. Duke: Roger. “How does it look, Neil? Armstrong: “The Eagle has wings.
Both craft were now flying in formation, just 18 m (60 ft) apart. For the two astronauts aboard Eagle, it was almost time to begin their descent to the lunar surface.



70 “The Eagle has landed” for all mankind 71
Landing on the Moon: the Eagle’s perilous descent





74 “The Eagle has landed”
N Aldrin poses for one of the most
“Magnificent desolation:” first steps on the Moon


famous portraits of all time. Lying in front
Once Aldrin had begun to find his feet on the lunar surface, the astronauts checked minutes before finally securing it in the bone dry lunar soil. Then they took a brief closer than the Earth s, and without any atmospheric haze, there were no clues to of him is one of eagle’s four lunar surface sensing probes. Armstrong s reflection can be clearly seen in his helmet visor.
out the state of their spacecraft. Eagle, congratulatory call from President Nixon. help them gauge the distance or scale of the
it seemed, had made a remarkably soft While Aldrin turned his attention to nearby hills.
landing; the only sign of damage was some deploying the twin elements of the science After less than two hours, the astronauts
torn insulation on the landing legs. experiments package, Armstrong ventured were called in. Aldrin went first, although
Attached to one of the legs was a about 100 m (330 ft) away from the LM to he paused halfway up the ladder to leave
commemorative plaque, which Armstrong inspect a nearby crater, taking photographs some commemorative artefacts – a small
unveiled and read aloud its message: “Here and collecting samples along the way. The gold olive branch, plus an Apollo 1 mission



for all mankind 77



Out of this world: Apollo 11’s science experiments


M Two objects that also made the journey to the Moon. The golden olive branch (top) was left behind by the astronauts as a symbol of peace, while below it is one of the gloves worn by Armstrong during his EVA with a checklist of procedures sewn into the cuff.
Aside from the solar wind collecting sheet and the rock samples to be flown home for analysis back on Earth, the astronauts also deployed experiments to be left behind on the Moon. The Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package (EASEP) consisted of two elements: the passive Seismic experiments package (PSEP) and the Laser Ranging Retroreflector (LRRR). Both were self contained and together weighed a total of 77 kg (170 lb).
The PSEP was made up of three long period seismometers and one short period vertical seismometer for measuring meteoroid impacts and volcanic activity. The data gathered would be useful in determining the interior structure of the Moon and identifying any similarities with the Earth s core and mantle.
The LLR reflected pulses of laser light fired through optical telescopes on Earth. By measuring the time that it took the pulses to travel to the Moon and back, scientists would be able to calculate the distance between the two bodies to within 25 cm (10 in). The reflector itself consisted of 100 small prisms, known as “corner cubes,” which were mounted on a 116 cm. (18 sq in) aluminum panel.
One curiosity during the deployment was that Aldrin discovered he was unable to center the LRR s built in level. He eventually gave up, instead concentrating his efforts on taking some core soil samples. A little later, Armstrong took a picture of the device and noticed that, for no obvious reason, the level s bubble was sitting on dead center. No one knew why.


The PSEP went on to give scientists their first inkling of the true geological structure of the Moon. The LLR continues to be used by observatories across the world (along with two more, deployed by Apollos 14 and 15), although technological advances mean that the distance estimates are now said to be accurate to within 2 cm (1 in).




78 “The Eagle has landed” for all mankind 79


The long journey home
Apart from Eagle s autopilot jamming just abandoned, eventually to crash into the a few meters before docking – a problem Moon. The CSM made one final lunar orbit quickly sorted by the backup computer – the before Collins fired up the CSM s big SPS link up of the two Apollo spacecraft in lunar engine for trans Earth injection. orbit went smoothly. Once again, Collins With little more to do than eat, sleep and experienced the “smell of space” as he take pictures, the crew settled back for their cleared the docking mechanism away from two and a half day coast to Earth. Just like the tunnel – and once again, no discernible the crews of Apollos 8 and 10 before them, cause could be found. they pondered the significance of their lunar
After the hatches had been opened and experience during a live TV broadcast. They the spacecraft s atmospheres allowed to were also informed by Houston that they mingle, Armstrong and Aldrin clambered were being sent on a world tour. through to the CSM for a reunion with their On Day 8 came Apollo 11 s final critical crewmate. There were firm handshakes and maneuvers: jettisoning of the Service Module congratulations all round before Aldrin and preparation for reentry. All went well.




for all mankind 81
Hornet, although NASA was taking no chances: three other recovery ships had been stationed in readiness, another in the Pacific and two more in the Atlantic. Thirteen aircraft had also been placed on constant patrol around the world to cover every eventuality. The three astronauts were left suspended upside down in their couches until the craft’s three flotation balloons fully inflated and rolled them over. Anxiously, they all took seasickness tablets as they watched an open valve start to leak seawater into the cabin.
After seven minutes, a Navy diver opened the hatch briefly to supply the crew with their Biological Isolation Garments – the full-length rubber suits with breathing filters that were part of NASA’s plan to deal with possible lunar contamination. Shortly afterward, feeling increasingly seasick, they bade farewell to Columbia and climbed into their life raft, where divers were on hand to spray them with disinfectant before the recovery helicopter arrived. At long last, hot and uncomfortable in their bio-hazard suits, the astronauts were flown back to the Hornet. Life would never be the same again.
N Manned Spacecraft Center boss Robert Gilruth joins his colleagues in the Mission Operations Control Room to celebrate the safe return of Apollo 11 with flags and cigars.

for all mankind 83


“The whole world gets contaminated and everybody is mad at you”



When Apollo 11’s recovery helicopter landed on the USS Hornet, it was lowered straight into one of the aircraft carrier’s vast hangars. To the strains of a brass band and the cheers of 300 sailors, the three astronauts then made a hurried exit, their faces still masked by hoods and air filters, as they walked the few yards to the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF).
Although most NASA scientists were adamant that there was no chance of life existing on the Moon, the agency still mounted an elaborate quarantine operation to protect the Earth from potential space germs. The process had begun as soon as Armstrong and Aldrin left the lunar surface and was scheduled to continue for up to three weeks following their return. The astronauts found their continuing enforced isolation hard to bear, but were mindful of their responsibilities. As Collins later wrote: “The whole world gets contaminated and everybody is mad at you.”
The MQF was a converted mobile field hospital that had formerly been used for relief aid work in Africa (and was later returned there). Inside, the astronauts underwent the first of a long series of medical checks. After showering and putting on their first clean clothes in more than a week, they finally revealed their faces to the world when they talked to President Nixon through the glass. The President underlined their celebrity status by describing himself as “one of the luckiest men in the world” to be meeting them.
Meanwhile, Columbia had also been airlifted aboard the recovery ship and attached to the MQF. The lunar samples were removed and flown back to Houston, while Collins returned to the CSM one last time to retrieve his checklists as the Hornet steamed toward Hawaii.
Once the carrier had docked in Pearl Harbor, the MQF and its three occupants were craned onto a truck and driven to Hickam Air Force base for the six-hour flight back to Houston. On arrival at Ellington Air Force Base, the astronauts
O Still dressed in their isolation garments, the Apollo 11 astronauts manage a brief wave to the cheering crew of the uSS hornet as they are whisked from their recovery helicopter to the MQF.
P Life in the MQF: the crew show their faces at last as they chat to President Nixon while still aboard the USS hornet (top); read what the world has been saying about them during their sea voyage to Peal Harbour (center); and greet their wives as they fly in to Ellington Air Force Base, Texas.
again pressed themselves to the MQF’s window, this time to get an all-too-brief glimpse of their wives.
Next stop was the Lunar Receiving Laboratory – a multi-million-dollar contamination-proof facility at the Manned Spacecraft Center where the astronauts were scheduled to join the rocks they had collected on the Moon. Here, scientists set to work testing the samples for as long as it took to establish that both they, and the people who had come into contact with them, posed no threat to the outside world.
The astronauts’ days were spent writing up countless reports of their mission, interspersed with debriefing sessions conducted by NASA officials through sealed glass windows. There were also more window-protected visits from their families, plus the first in an endless stream of autograph-signing sessions.
After 16 days of sample analysis, which included exposing the rocks to laboratory animals, officials finally gave the all-clear for the astronauts to leave quarantine.



88 insight The Great lunar landing conspiracy 89 for all mankind 91






Three men who travelled to another world
In spite of any hopes they might have had to the contrary, Apollo 11 was always going to be the last flight for its three astronauts. The success of their mission turned them into global celebrities, which ruled out any further trips into space – although Collins had already made his decision during training, concluding that it was best to bow out at the top.
As the years have passed, all three men have hinted at the insecurities that lay behind the apparently calm and self assured way they carried out their tasks. Armstrong has confessed that he only give the mission a 50 percent chance of success, while Collins revealed in 2009 that he was racked with fear for his crewmates’ safety after they left him to orbit the Moon alone. Yet all three former astronauts also remain enthusiastic proponents of space travel
– Armstrong and Collins to the Moon, Aldrin to Mars and beyond. Space became their lives and gripped them in a way few of us will ever understand. We may not see their like again.
N The Apollo 11 astronauts reunite in 1994 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of their life
changing mission to the Moon.
92 “The Eagle has landed”



Index
Volume 6: “The Eagle has landed”
A
ABC-TV 32 Abernathy, Reverend Ralph 64 Agena Target Vehicle (ATV) 56, 59 Agnew, Vice-President Spiro T. 86, 90 Aldrin, Edwin “Buzz” 6, 7, 8, 54, 55, 61, 64, 65, 66, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87, 88, 90, 91 attitude to conspiracy theories 88 first steps on the Moon 73 profile of 58, 59 Algranti, Joseph S. 13 Altai Mountains 44 American Samoa 41 Anders, William A. “Bill” 61, 64 Apollo 1 74 Apollo 8 4, 6, 19, 22, 46, 59 Apollo 9 7, 8, 18, 19, 30 call-signs 19 crew of 20, 21 in Earth orbit 24, 25 key dates 19 launch of 22 mission patch 18 splashdown of 24 Apollo 10 8, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 69 call-signs 31, 34 crew of 32, 33 in lunar orbit 36, 37 key dates 31 launch of 34, 35 mission patch 30 splashdown of 40, 41 Apollo 11 4, 8, 9, 26, 36, 54-91 awards to crew 86 call-signs 55 commemorative plaque 4, 74, 90 conspiracy theories concerning 88, 89 crew of 56, 57, 58, 58, 60, 61 journey to Moon 66, 67 first steps on Moon 72, 73 ”Giant Leap” world tour 86 key dates 54 launch of 64, 65 lunar landing 70, 71 lunar experiments 76, 77 lunar orbit 68, 69
Page numbers in italic refer to illustrations.
mission patch 64
mission profile 66, 67
return to Earth 78, 79
splashdown 80, 81
ticker-tape welcomes 84, 85
world tour 86, 87
Apollo 13 11, 32
Apollo 14 16
Apollo 15 14, 28
Apollo 16 35
Apollo 17 32
Apollo Command and Service Module (CSM) 4,
14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25, 31, 34, 36,
37, 38, 39, 41, 54, 55, 66, 69, 78
Block I/II differences 15
control panel 17
control systems 17
data 14
Guidance and Navigation computer (GNC)
13, 17
optics unit 17
return to Earth 16, 41
Service Propulsion System (SPS) 14, 15, 69,
79
simulator 10, 11, 30
structure of 14, 15, 41
Apollo Lunar Module (LM) 4, 6, 7, 8, 18, 19, 22,
23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 36, 37,
38, 39, 55, 66, 68, 69, 70, 73, 74, 78, 79
comparison with Soviet LK 52
control panel 29
data 27
delays to 26
docking with CSM 16
evolution 26
Extended Lunar Module (ELM) 27
flying the 29, 69, 70, 71
interior of 29
Lunar Module simulator 11, 13, 18
Lunar Module Spacecraft Adapter 15, 22, 23
Apollo program 20, 30, 54, 88, 89, 90, 91
cost of 90
simulators 6, 7, 8
Armstrong, Neil A. 4, 6, 7, 8, 13, 32, 54, 55, 62,
68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84,
85, 86, 87, 90, 91
first steps on the Moon 72
profile of 56, 57, 64, 65, 66, 69
astronauts 6, 11, 30 astronaut training 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 Atlantic Ocean 24, 59 Atlas-Agena rocket 4 Automatic Guidance System (AGS) 69, 70
B
B612 Foundation 20 Baikonur Cosmodrome 44, 46, 48, 49, 51 Bales, Steve 86 Bassett, Charles A. 59 Bell Aerosystems 13, 26 Bethpage, New York 6, 19 Biological Isolation Garment (BIG) 80, 81 Block D, E engines see L3 Block G upper stage see L3 complex Borman, Frank F. 61 Braun, Wernher von 55, 65, 84 Brezhnev, Leonid 43 Brown, Governor Jerry 20
C
Cape Canaveral, Florida 4, 6, 11, 18, 19, 21, 22, 31, 34, 64, 65
captured rotation 36 Carrying the Fire 61 centrifuge 11, 45 Cernan, Eugene A. 11, 30, 32, 33, 36, 38, 39, 41 Chaffee, Roger 18 Challenger disaster 32, 56 Charlie Brown see Apollo 10: call-signs Chicago, Illinois 20, 32, 84 Clarke, Arthur C. 11 Cold War 86 Collins, Michael 6, 7, 11, 55, 59, 60, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 80, 81, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87, 91 profile of 60, 61, 64 Columbia see Apollo 11: call-signs Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi 61 Command Module see Apollo program, CSM Constellation Program 32, 56 Cooper, Gordon 30, 31 cosmonauts see astronauts
D
DAC (Data Acquisition Camera 74 docking see rendezvous and docking Downey, California 7 “Dr. Rendezvous” see Aldrin, Edwin A. “Buzz” Dryden Research Center 20 Duke, Charles “Charlie” 35, 69, 70, 71 Dynamic Crew Procedures simulator 6
E
E-8-5 series see Luna probes
EASAP (Early Apollo Science Experiments Package 9, 76, 77
Eagle see Apollo 11: call-signs
Earth 23, 24, 25, 67, 68, 78, 79
Edwards Air Force Base, California 20, 32, 56, 61
Eisele, Donn F. 30, 31
Eliseev, Alexei 42, 43
Ellington Air Force Base, Texas 13, 83
EVA (extra-vehicular activity) 7, 8, 9, 32, 56, 76, 77
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EVU) 19, 22, 24, 25, 62, 63, 69, 72
F
F-1 engine see Rocketdyne Flight Acceleration Facility, MSC 11 Flying to the Moon and Other Strange Places 61 Ford Tri-motor 56 France 61 Freeman, Theodore C. 59
G
Gemini program 4, 7, 8, 19, 20, 22, 30, 32, 56, 59, 61
Georgia Institute of Technology 32
g-forces 11
Gilruth, Robert 81, 84, 87
Glenn, John 61
Goddard, Robert 58
Goldstone, California 37
Grissom, Virgil “Gus” 18, 19, 32
Grumman Aircraft Corporation 7, 19, 26
Gumdrop see Apollo 9: call-signs
H
Haise, Frederick W. 7, 70
Hamilton Standard 62
Hasselblad camera 39, 73
Hatleberg, Lieutenant Clancy 80
Hope, Bob 86
Houston see Mission Control, Manned Spacecraft Center
Huntsville, Alabama 84
I

ILC Dover 62 infinity optics projectors 11 Irwin, James B. 61 Izvestia newspaper 86
J
J-2 engine see Rocketdyne Jet Propulsion laboratory (JPL) 25 Johnson, Lyndon Baines 90 Johnson Space Center (JSC) 32
K
7K-L1 see L1 Soviet circumlunar spacecraft 7K-L1S see Soyuz spacecraft 7K-OK, 7K-LOK see Soyuz spacecraft Kelly, Tom 26 Kennedy, President John F. 90 Kennedy Space Center see Cape Canaveral Komarov, Vladimir 43 Korean War 20, 56, 58 Korolev, Sergei 50 Kosmos flights see Soyuz spacecraft Kraft, Chris 54 Kranz, Gene 69 Khrunov, Yevgeny 42, 43 Krechet see Spacesuits: Soviet Moon suits Kubrick, Stanley 11
L
L1 Soviet circumlunar spacecraft 4, 44, 46 L3 lunar landing complex 43, 51 Block D, E engines 51 LK Soviet lunar lander 51, 52, 53 data 53 mission profile 53 Langley Research Center, Virginia 7, 12, 13 Laning, Hal 11 Laser Ranging Retroreflector (LRRR) 76, 77 Lavochkin design bureau 47 Leonov, Alexei 20 Lindbergh, Charles “Lucky” 54 London, England 86 Longuski, Professor James 88 Los Angeles, California 84, 86 Lovell, James A. 7, 32, 59, 70 Low, George 54, 87 Luna Moon probes 46, 47 Luna 15 46, 86 lunar EVA see EVA Lunar Excursion Module Simulator (LEMS) 13 Lunar Extravehicular Visor Assembly (LEVA) 62 Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF) 7, 13 Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) 13 Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) 7, 12, 13
index 93
difficulties with 12, 13 Lunar Module see Apollo program, Lunar Module Lunar Receiving Laboratory 83 Lunar Rendezvous Simulator (LRS) lunar rocks see lunar samples lunar samples 8, 9, 77, 79, 83, 87 lunar surface see Moon: surface of lunar soil see lunar samples Lunocherpalka (“lunar scooper”) 47 Lunokhod rover 46, 47
M
Manned Space Flight Center, Houston 6, 8, 11, 83, 84, 86 Manned Spacecraft Operations Building, KSC
54, 56, 64 Mariner 6 and 7 probes 25 Mars 25, 44 Mars 69 series probes 44 Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) 7, 8, 84 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 20, 59 McCandless, Bruce 69 McDivitt, James 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25 profile of 20 Max Q 34 Mig-15 58 Mishin, Vasily 48 Mission Control, Houston 8, 30, 34, 35, 36, 38, 41, 65, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 81 See also Manned Space Flight Center, Houston Mitchell, Edgar 30, 31 Mobile Launch Platform 64, 65 Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) 82, 83 Modular Equipment Stowage Assembly (MESA)
8 Moon 4, 36, 37, 38, 39, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 79, 91
artifacts left on 77 “Earthrise” over 68, 78 far side 36 first steps on the 72, 73, 74, 75 gravity 36, 41 Sea of Crises 46 Sea of Smyth 68 Sea of Tranquility 39, 46, 69, 71 surface of 46, 70, 71 Montclair, New Jersey 59 Moscow 43 Mueller, George 65
N

N1 Soviet Moon rocket 4, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51 construction 50, 51
94 “The Eagle has landed”
data 50, 51 launch pad explosion 48 National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) 56
NASA 4, 6, 7, 18, 20, 30, 32, 41, 46, 47, 54, 56, 59, 62, 88, 89, 90 xontroversy surrounding Apollo 11 64 expenditure on Apollo 90 revised plans for Apollo 6
National Air and Space Museum, Washington,
D.C. 61, 67 National Geographic magazine 85 Neptune, New Jersey 20 New York City 85 Nixon, President Richard 74, 83, 84 North American Rockwell 7, 20, 31
O
Obama, President Barack 32 Olympus Mons (Mars) 25 orbital rendezvous see rendezvous and docking Orlan see Spacesuits: Soviet Moon suits
P
Pacific Ocean 40, 41, 47, 56, 81 Paine, Thomas 64, 87 Paris, France 87 Passive Seismic Experiments Package (PSEP) 76,
77 Peanuts see Apollo 10: call-signs Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 83 pogo effect 22, 34, 65 Phillips, General Samuel C. 65 Phobos (moon of Mars) 25 Pope Paul VI 86 Portable Life Support System (PLSS) 24, 62, 63 Pressurized Garment Assembly 62 Proton rocket 4, 44, 46, 47 Purdue University, Indiana 32, 56, 88
R
Randolph Air Force Base, Texas 20 RCA slow-scan TV camera 72 RCS (reaction control thruster system) 14, 15, 39 regolith, lunar see Moon, surface of rendezvous and docking 11, 39, 42, 43, 66, 69 Rocketdyne 19
F-1 engine 23 J-2 engine 23 Rome, Italy 61
S
San Francisco, California 32
Saturn V rocket 4, 18, 19, 22, 23, 31, 34, 55, 65 Instrument Unit (IU) 31 S-IC first stage 23 S-IIC second stage 23 S-IVB third stage 23, 24, 34, 66
Schirra, Walter M. “Wally”
Schulz, Charles M. 31
Schweickart, Russell L. 18, 20, 21, 24, 25 profile of 20
Schmitt, Joe 61, 64
science experiments 9
Scott, David R. 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 56 profile of 20
See, Elliot M. 59
Service Propulsion System (SPS) 14, 15
Shatalov, Vladimir 42, 43
Shepard, Alan 32
Sibrel, Bart 88
Sierra Blanca, Texas 7, 9
simulators 11 software for 11
Solar Wind Composition Experiment 74
Stullken, Donald 41
Skylab 20
Slayton, Donald K. “Deke” 20, 32, 35, 54, 56, 59, 61, 64, 84
“smell of space” 66, 79
Smithsonian Institution 61, 67
Southern Christian Leadership Conference 64
Soviet Union 4, 42, 44, 46, 90
Soyuz 2 and 3 42
Soyuz 4 and 5 42, 43
Soyuz spacecraft 42, 43, 46 7K-L1S 46 7K-LOK lunar orbiter 46, 51, 52, 53
Spacelab 32
Space Shuttle 32
spacesuits 8 Soviet Moon suits 52
See also Extravehicular Mobility Unit
spacewalking see EVA
Spider see Apollo 9: call-signs
spy satellites 48
Stafford, Thomas P. 10, 11, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 39, 41
Stevenson, John D. 6
T
T-38 (Lockheed) 61 2001: A Space Odyssey 11 Torso and Limb Suit Assembly (TLSA) 62, 63 tracking stations 72 Translation and Docking Simulator 7 translunar trajectory 66 “Tsar” rocket see N1 TsKBEM design bureau 4 TV broadcasts from space 24, 36, 37, 66, 72, 79
U
University of Cincinnati 56
U.S. Air Force (USAF) 20, 32, 59, 61
See also individual air bases
U.S.
Congress 86

U.S.
Government spending 90

U.S.
Post Office 84

U.S.
Navy 32, 56 USS Hornet 81, 82, 83 USS Laws 32 USS Princeton 41 USS Wasp 59 USSR see Soviet Union


V
vacuum chamber 8 Vatican City 86 Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) 19, 31, 64 Venera 4 and 5 Venus probes 44, 45 Venus 44 Verne, Jules 55 Vietnam War 54, 86 Voice of America 86 Volynov, Vladimir 42, 43 von Braun, Wernher see Braun, Wernher von
W
Wapakoneta, Ohio 56 Washington, D.C. 20 Weatherford, Oklahoma 32 West Germany 32, 61 Westinghouse TV camera 72 West Point Academy 20, 58, 61 White, Ed 18, 20, 61 White House 86 White Room 22
X
X-15 rocket plane 56
Y
Young, John 10, 19, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39, 41, 61

RUSSIA May A Russian magazine publishes The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices – an article by schoolteacher and amateur space enthusiast Konstantin Tsiolkovsky based on paper he had written five years earlier.

USA December 17 The Wright brothers make the first successful flight of a powered, heaver-than-air machine from Kittyhawk, North Carolina.

RUSSIA V. V. Karavodine patents the pulsating ramjet – a form of simple jet engine in which the forward motion of the engine compresses the fuel/air mixture.

RUSSIA N. V. Gerasimov applies for a patent of a solid-fuelled rocket with gyroscopic stabilization.

RUSSIA January 12 Birth of Sergei Korolev, architect of the early Soviet space programme.

FRANCE Scientist Robert Esnault-Pelterie initiates his research into astronautics.

USA Orville Wright conducts trial aircraft flights for the U.S. War Department.

RUSSIA September 18 Latvian space enthusiast Friedrich Tsander writes a paper which considers life support and other issues of interplanetary travel.

USA Physicist and amateur rocket scientist Robert Goddard begins research into the field of rocket dynamics and publishes his first thoughts on liquid-fuelled rockets.

GERMANY Amateur enthusiast Hermann Oberth sketches his first rocketship.

RUSSIA N. A. Sytenko designs a solid-fuelled anti-aircraft rocket for the Russian military.

RUSSIA A St Petersburg magazine starts the publication of a second series of articles by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, entitled Exploration of the World Space with Reactive Instruments.

USA The American Aeronautical Society is formed.

GERMANY March 23 Birth of Wernher von Braun, architect of Nazi Germany’s V-2 ballistic missile programme and later, creator of the Saturn V rocket that took the Apollo astronauts to the Moon.

FRANCE November 15 At a meeting of the French Physical Society, Robert Esnault-Pelterie delivers a report entitled Considerations on the Results of Unlimited Reduction in Engine Weight.

USA Robert Goddard registers two patents for a liquid-propellant rocket and a two- and three-stage solid-propellant rocket.

August 1 Russia and France declare war on Germany, beginning World War 1.

USA March 3 The U.S. Congress creates the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).

BRITAIN May 31 Britain employs rockets in the defence of London from Zeppelin air raids.

FRANCE Henri Melot works on rockets to augment the power of aircraft engines.

USA January 5 America’s Smithsonian Institution awards a $5,000 grant to Robert Goddard to conduct rocket research.

RUSSIA November 7 The Bolsheviks seize power in St Petersburg, marking the birth of the Soviet Union.

USA January 14 Robert Goddard writes ‘The Ultimate Migration’, an article describing the exodus of human civilization from a dying solar system aboard a nuclear-powered colony ship. The article is not published until 1972.

USSR April Byloye (‘the Past’) magazine publishes a description of a manned rocket ship originally proposed by Russian Nikolai Kibalchich in 1881.

USA November 7 Robert Goddard demonstrates a solid-propellant rocket (nicknamed ‘bazooka’) at Aberdeen, Maryland.

FRANCE November 11 An armistice is signed with Germany, bringing World War 1 to an end.

USSR May 3 Nikolai Tikhomirov asks the new Soviet government to organize a rocket development laboratory.

USA May 26 Robert Goddard submits A Method of Attaining Extreme Altitudes to the Smithsonian Institution. It is published the following January, but is misinterpreted and riducled by the press as a proposal for a rocket flight to the Moon.

USA NACA opens its first research facility – the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Virginia.

USSR May 3 Nikolai Tikhomirov asks the new Soviet government to organize a rocket development laboratory.

USA May 26 Robert Goddard submits A Method of Attaining Extreme Altitudes to the Smithsonian Institution. It is published the following January, but is misinterpreted and riducled by the press as a proposal for a rocket flight to the Moon.USA NACA opens its first research facility – the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Virginia.

USSR The Leningrad State Scientific-Technical Institute initiates the development of “smokeless gunpowder” for Tikhomirov’s laboratory.

GERMANY Hermann Oberth publishes The Rocket into Interplanetary Space.

USSR The Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR asks Tikhomirov’s laboratory to test the possibility of using jet propulsion to increase the range of existing munitions.

USA November 1 Robert Goddard tests a rocket engine using liquid oxygen and gasoline supplied under pumped pressure.

USA June 20 The Society for Studies of Interplanetary Travel is founded in Moscow.

USSR Tsiolkovsky’s book Cosmic Rocket Trains describes multi-stage rockets.

USSR Friedrich Tsander publishes Flight to Other Planets.

USSR Tsiolkovsky, Tsander and Kondratyuk propose the use of the atmosphere as a braking medium for spaceships returning to Earth.

USSR Vladimir Artemiev conducts launches of solid-propellant rockets at the Chief Artillery Range near Leningrad which demonstrate a tenfold increase in range compared with existing munitions.

USSR Tikhomirov’s laboratory moves to Leningrad (St Petersburg).The first exhibition dedicated to the interplanetary travel is held in Kiev.

GERMANY November W alter Hohmann publishes The Attainability of Celestial Bodies, describing rocket motion in space.

USA March 16 Robert Goddard launches Nell, the first successful liquid-fuelled rocket.

USSR Tsiolkovsky publishes a new and expanded edition of The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices.

GERMANY Willy Ley publishes Die Fahrt ins Weltall, popularizing astronautics.

USSR April 24 The world’s first exhibition of technology for interplanetary travel opens in Moscow.

FRANCE June 27 Robert Esnault-Pelterie advocates space travel to the French Societé Astronomique.

GERMANY July 5 Johannes Winkler founds the Verein fur Raumschiffahrt or VfR (‘Society for Space Travel’) in Breslau. Die Rakete magazine is published in GERMANY.

USSR Tsiolkovsky publishes The Experimental Development of Space Rockets.

USSR June Tikhomirov’s rocket research lab is renamed the Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) and becomes part of the Military Research Committee of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR.

GERMANY June 11 Alexander Lippisch’s Ente (‘Duck’), the world’s first aircraft powered by a solid-propellant rocket engine, completes its first flight after being launched from a catapult.

FRANCE Robert Esnault-Pelterie and André Hirsch establish the annual Hirsch Prize for the best work in astronautics.

USSR Nikolai Rynin starts publication of the nine-volume encyclopedia Interplanetary Communications. It includes fictional literature on space, plus articles on technology and astronomy.

USSR Nikolai Tikhomirov conducts test launches of rockets burning smokeless powder.

YUGOSLAVIA December Slovene pioneer Hermann Noordung publishes The Problems of Navigating Space, which describes space stations.

USSR January Yuri Kondratyuk publishes the Conquest of World Space.

USSR May 15 A department is formed within GDL to develop liquid and electrical rocket engines.

USSR July Valentin Glushko starts testing an electrical jet engine at GDL.

USA July 17 Robert Goddard launches a rocket carrying the first set of scientific tools – a barometer and a camera – in Auburn, Massachussetts.

GERMANY September 30 Fritz von Opel tests a RAK 1 solid-propellant rocket glider near Frankfurt. It exceeds 160 km/h (100 mph).

GERMANY Fritz Lang’s science fiction film Frau im Mond (The Girl in the Moon) is released.

BRITAIN January 16 RAF engineer Frank Whittle submits his first patent for a jet engine (granted in 1932).

USA February 18 The dwarf planet Pluto is discovered by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh working at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

USA April 4 The American Interplanetary Society is formed in New York.

GERMANY May 17 Rocket pioneer Max Valier dies after a botched experiment.

GERMANY August VfR members Klaus Riedel and Rudolph Nebel test-fire the Mirak-1 liquid-propelled rocket near Berlin.

GERMANY September 23 The VfR’s Raketenflugplatz, the world’s first rocket test range, is made operational near Berlin.

USSR At the Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) in Leningrad, Valentin Glushko develops the first Soviet liquid-fuelled rocket engine, the ORM-1.

USSR September 27 First test of a Russian liquid-fuelled rocket engine developed by Moscow-based Friedrich Tsander.

GERMANY February 21 Johannes Winkler tests a rocket burning liquid oxygen and methane. It is launched on March 14.

GERMANY April 15 Reinhold Tiling launches a solid-propellant rocket which safely carries 188 postcards to demonstrate its reliability.

GERMANY August The VfR’s Repulsor-4 rocket reaches 1,006 m (3,300 ft) in altitude and is recovered by parachute.

USA September American William Swan reaches an altitude of 61 m (200 ft) in an aircraft powered by a solid-propellant rocket engine near Atlantic City, New Jersey.

USSR September 15 The Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD) is formed to develop rocket engines.

USA October 13 Robert Goddard launches a rocket that reaches 518 m (1,700 ft).

USSR November 18 The Moscow brigade of GIRD, led by Friedrich Tsander, is established.

USSR February 22 Sergei Korolev leads tests of a rocket-propelled glider.

USA April 19 Robert Goddard tests an inertially guided rocket steered by gyroscopes.

USSR May Publication of Nikolai Runin’s influential nine-part series Interplanetary Travel is completed.

USSR July 14 The Soviet government begins sponsoring research by the Moscow brigade of GIRD.

USSR September Friedrich Tsander publishes The Problem of Flight by Means of Jet-propelled Vehicles.

GERMANY October 6 The HW-2 rocket, designed by Johannes Winkler and his associates, explodes during tests.

GERMANY November 2 Former VfR member Wernher von Braun starts work for the German Army at the rocket testing range at Kummersdorf, near Berlin. Fellow German Eugen Sanger starts testing liquid-fuelled rocket engines.

GERMANY May Eugen Sanger publishes The Technology of Rocket Flight.

USSR August 18 A rocket with a hybrid engine powered by liquid oxygen and petroleum gel (GIRD-09) is launched.

USSR September 21 GIRD and the GDL officially merge to create the Moscow-based Scientific Research Institute for Jet Propulsion (RNII).

BRITAIN October The British Interplanetary Society is founded in Liverpool.

GERMANY October 11 German rocket pioneer Reinhold Tiling and two of his assistants die in an explosion.

GERMANY January Lack of funding leads to the closure of the VfR rocket society.

USSR A nationwide conference of the Academy of Sciences on Atmospheric Research is held in Leningrad.

USSR May 5 The liquid-fuelled 06/1 (RP-216), the world’s first unguided cruise missile, flies for the first time.

GERMANY December Two A-2 rockets launched from Borkum Island on the North Sea coast reach an altitude of 1.5 km and 2 km (0.93 and 1.24 miles) respectively.

USSR Sergei Korolev’s Rocket Flight in the Stratosphere is published.

GERMANY June 27 Wernher von Braun outlines his design for a German Army rocket development centre on the Baltic coast at Peenemünde.

USSR September 19 Death of Russian rocket pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.

USSR November RNII members Georgi Langemak and Valentin Glushko publish Rockets: Their Design and Application.

GERMANY Hellmuth Walter founds a company in Kiel (HWK) to develop rocket engines for aeroplanes and gas generators for rockets.

USSR March 15 The RNII initiates development of the ORM-65 rocket engine with a thrust of 175 kg (386 lb).

USSR May 9 The RNII’s Sergei Korolev oversees the first test of a winged missile designated the ‘216’.

USSR November 5 First official test firing of the ORM-65 engine, to be used in the Soviet RP-318 rocket glider and 212 cruise missile.

USA Robert Goddard publishes Liquid Propellant Rocket Development.

USA Students at the California Institute of Technology’s Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory (GALCIT) in Pasadena begin design and experimental work with liquid-propellant rocket engines under the direction of Hungarian Professor Theodore von Kármán. The group will later go on to form the basis of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

GERMANY May Construction of initial test facilities is completed at the German Army’s new rocket testing centre at Peenemünde. Wernher von Braun moves there from Kummersdorf to become Technical Director.

GERMANY June A rocket-powered Heinkel He-112 aircraft developed at Kummersdorf flies for the first time at Neuhardenberg.

USSR October Publication of the influential Introduction to Cosmonautics by Ari Shternfeld.

GERMANY December Four von Braun-designed A-3 missiles are tested unsuccessfully on the island of Greifswalder Oie in the Baltic Sea.

FRANCE Paris hosts an Astronautics Exhibition.

USSR The heads of the RNII, Ivan Kleimenov and Georgi Langemak, are arrested and executed by Stalin’s security forces.

USSR May 29 Still working at the RNII, Sergei Korolev is injured during testing of the 212 cruise missile.

GERMANY Bavarian industrial conglomerate BMW starts the development of rocket engines for aircraft and rockets.

USSR Sergei Korolev and Valentin Glushko of the RNII are both arrested and imprisoned by Stalin’s security forces.

GERMANY Eugen Sanger and Irene Bredt initiate the design of a stratospheric rocket-powered bomber.

USSR January 29 Experimental cruise missile 212, powered by a ORM-65 No. 2 engine, is successfully tested in flight.

USSR June Soviet I-16 fighter planes fire rockets at Japanese targets during the conflict in the Far East.

GERMANY June 20 The He-176 aircraft, powered by a Walter-built HWK liquid-fuelled rocket engine, is flight-tested at Peenemünde.

USA December 20 Work begins on a new NACA facility – the Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, near San José, California.

USSR February 28 The RP-318-1 rocket-powered glider, originally designed by Sergei Korolev, is tested in flight and reaches a speed of 200 km/h (124 mph).
GERMANY December 18 The Luftwaffe tests the rocket-powered Henschel Hs 293 radio-controlled anti-shipping missile at Peenemünde.

USSR June Hitler invades the Soviet Union. During the following months, Soviet aerospace research facilities are hurriedly evacuated eastwards in the face of the German advance on Moscow.

GERMANY August 13 The rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet fighter aircraft, designed by Alexander Lippisch, completes its first test flight.

GERMANY spring At Peenemünde, Wernher von Braun makes a series of unsuccessful attempts to launch the A-4 ballistic missile.

USSR May 15 The Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 rocket-powered bomber interceptor is tested in flight.

GERMANY October 3 First successful test of the A-4, the world’s first ballistic missile. It is subsequently ordered into production by Hitler as the Vergelltungswaffen 2 (V-2).

USA The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) opens the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory (later the Lewis Research Center) in Cleveland, Ohio.

GERMANY August 17-18 RAF bombers conduct a massed raid on Peenemünde but fail to cripple the rocket testing facilities.

USSR August-November The RD-1 rocket engine is tested aboard a Pe-2R bomber in 40 rocket-powered flights.

GERMANY September 14 The A-4 reaches a height of 175 km (109 miles).

USA November GALCIT’s GATO Rocket Research project is reorganized as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)with U.S. government funding.

FRANCE September The first V-2 missiles are launched operationally against Paris and London; they go on to cause widespread damage to London and the port of Antwerp.

GERMANY May 2 A team of top rocket research staff, led by Wernher von Braun, surrenders to the U.S. Army.

GERMANY May 5 The rocket testing range at Peenemünde is captured by the Red Army.

GERMANY May 8 Nazi forces surrender unconditionally.

USA May The U.S. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) establishes the Pilotless Aircraft Facility at Wallops Island, Virginia, to test-launch rockets developed by its Langley Laboratory.

GERMANY May-August U.S. and British scientists evaluate the Nazis’ rocket programmes in an operation codenamed ‘Paperclip’. Sergei Korolev, now a Colonel in the Red Army, is part of a Soviet team sent to occupied GERMANY to discover as much as it can about Nazi rockets. The team eventually ships home enough captured V-2 components for 12 examples to be assembled on Soviet soil.

USA August 10 Rocket pioneer Robert Goddard dies from throat cancer, aged 62.

JAPAN August 15 Japan surrenders to the Allies, ending World War 2.

USSR September Helmut Gröttrup, a Peenemünde rocket guidance specialist, assists the Soviet Union in its efforts to restart production of German V-2 missiles.

USA September 29 Wernher von Braun arrives at Fort Bliss, Texas, along with other German rocket specialists.

USA April 16 The first launch of an American V-2 from White Sands, New Mexico.

USSR May 13 The Soviet government initiates a large-scale ballistic missile development programme.

USA September 13 Staff from NACA’s Langley Laboratory are sent to assist in the rocket-powered Bell X-l research programme at the USAF’s Muroc Field test facility in California. This group will later evolve into NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, while Muroc Field will be renamed Edwards Air Force Base.

GERMANY October 22 Soviet occupying forces in GERMANY deport dozens of German rocket engineers to the USSR in Operation Osoaviakhim.

USA March 7 The 20th U.S. V-2 launch reaches an altitude of over 100 km (62 miles).

USA October 14 Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier for the first time in the Bell X-1.

USSR October 18 First flight of a Soviet-assembled V-2.

USA October Development of the Consolidated-Vultee MX-774 ICBM is cancelled in favour of Convair’s Atlas.

USA May 13 Maiden flight of the Bumper rocket series (a V-2 with an additional upper stage) from White Sands.

USSR September 17 First launch of the R-1 – an all Soviet-built copy of the German V-2.

BRITAIN The British Interplanetary Society initiates studies for a launch vehicle to place an artificial satellite in orbit around the Earth.

USA February 24 A two-stage Bumper-5 rocket reaches an altitude of 393 km (244 miles).

USSR May 7 First flight of the all-Soviet R1-A missile from the Kapustin Yar testing range near the Caspian Sea.

USA June 14 Albert II, a rhesus monkey, becomes the first primate in space aboard a U.S. Navy-launched V-2/Blossom IVB rocket but dies after a parachute failure.

USA June The U.S. Air Force establishes the Department of Space Medicine.

USA September 6 Maiden flight of the U.S. Navy’s Viking sounding rocket.

USSR September 21 First launch of the R-2 ballistic missile – an upgraded version of the R-1.

USSR September 25 First launch of the R-2E missile.

USA January 28 First launch from the new U.S. Air Force missile testing range at Cape Canaveral in Florida – a Bumper 8 two-stage rocket.

USA April The U.S. Army establishes a team of rocket specialists under Wernher von Braun at Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama.

USSR April 26 Sergei Korolev becomes chief designer of bureau OKB-1 with responsibility for developing long-range ballistic missiles. Korolev and his team begin work on a multi-stage version of the R-3 rocket, capable of launching a satellite into orbit.

USA August 31 The U.S. Army launches its first mouse into space aboard a converted V-2.

FRANCE September 30 The first International Astronautical Congress in Paris creates the International Federation of Astronautics (IFA) – the governing body for space records.

USSR July 29 OKB-1 launches an R-1 IIIA-1 missile carrying the dogs Tsygan and Dezik on a sub-orbital hop into space. Both dogs survive.

USSR August–September OKB-1 conducts final test flights of the R-2 ballistic missile.

WORLD The International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) announces that the 18 months from July 1957 to December 1958 will be International Geophysical Year (IGY) and invites nations to launch satellites to aid the scientific exploration of space.

USSR March 15 First flight of the R-5, a single-stage missile with a nuclear warhead.

USSR April 18 Maiden flight of the Soviet R-11 ballistic missile. The R-11 was developed by Victor Makeev at OKB-1 but differed from Korolev’s liquid oxygen and kerosene-fuelled rockets by using more easily stored hypergolic propellants.

USA May 21 NACA’s Hubert M. Drake and L. Robert Carman propose a hypersonic research vehicle, capable of speeds of up to Mach 6.4.

USA July 18 First firing of the Deacon ‘Rockoon’, a rocket carried into the upper atmosphere by a balloon.

USA August 20 The U.S. Army’s Wernher von Braun-designed Redstone missile makes its first test flight.

USA October The U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board recommends the development of a research vehicle capable of Mach 7.

USA December 12 The Bell X-1A research plane reaches an altitude of 27 km (16.8 miles) and a speed of 2,655 km/h (1,650 mph).

ALGERIA February 2 France launches the French-built Véronique-NA rocket from its Hammaguir launch facility in French Algeria.

USSR May Development of OKB-1’s R-7 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) receives official approval.

USA May 24 A U.S. Viking rocket reaches an altitude of 254 km (158 miles) and speeds of up to 6,920 km/h (4,300 mph).

USA June Project Orbiter, a joint military services proposal for launching an orbiting satellite, is considered by the U.S. Navy.USA The U.S. government initiates development of the top-secret Project Corona to place spy satellites in orbit to overfly the USSR. It is not acknowledged officially until February 1958.

USSR February 12 The Soviet government approves the development of the NIIP-5 missile testing range near Tyuratam in Kazakhstan (later to become Baikonur Cosmodrome).

USSR April The NII-4 research institute, which includes former GIRD brigade leader Mikhail Tikhonravov, issues a report commissioned by Korolev entitled ‘Research on the Issue of Creating an Artificial Earth Satellite’. NII-4 subsequently begins work on a satellite, eventually to become known as Objekt-D.

USA September The U.S. Navy’s three-stage Vanguard rocket is officially approved as the USA’s vehicle for launching a scientific satellite into space.

CHINA Qian Xuesen, a student founder of JPL and an MIT-trained rocket scientist, returns to his native China after accusations of spying. Qian later goes on to mastermind China’s space programme.

WEST GERMANY January Eugen Sanger publishes The Mechanics of Photon Rockets.

USSR January 30 The Supreme Soviet of Ministers approves the development of a scientific satellite known as Objekt D.

USA February 1 The U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) is formed at Huntsville under the technical direction of Wernher von Braun.

USSR February 2 The Soviet military carries out the first launch of a missile with a live nuclear warhead.

USA September 20 Maiden flight of the U.S. Army’s von Braun-designed Jupiter-C rocket.

USA September 27 American Iven C. Kincheloe pilots an X-2 experimental plane to a height of 38 km (126,000 ft) and a speed of 3,540 km/h (2,200 mph) – the first time man has travelled above 30 km (100,000 ft) in altitude.

JANUARY

USA January 1 The U.S. government reaffirms its intention to launch a series of small satellites into orbit aboard its Navy-developed three-stage Vanguard rocket to mark IGY – International Geophysical year (July 1957–December 1958).

USSR January 5 OKB-1 chief designer Sergei Korolev requests permission to launch two 40-50 kg (88–110 lb) satellites carrying radio transmitters before IGY begins to beat the U.S. into space.

USSR January 11 The test flight programme for the R-7 ICBM is approved, as is the establishment of new missile launch facilities at Plesetsk in northern RUSSIA.

USSR January 25 Korolev approves the initial designs for Sputnik 1.

USA January 26 First test of the U.S. Air Force’s Thor intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) explodes on the launch pad.

FEBRUARY

USA February 14 The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) forms a steering committee to oversee the development of the Air Force’s hypersonic X-15 research aircraft and also a rocket-launched and glide-landing spaceplane, the Boeing Dyna-Soar (later to become the X-20).

USSR February 15 The Council of Ministers formally approves the launching of two satellites – PS-1 and PS-2 – to be launched aboard R-7 ICBMs some time in April-May. The launch of Mikhail Tikhonravov’s heavier and much more sophisticated Objekt D satellite is postponed to April 1958.

MARCH

USA March 1 First test of the Army’s Jupiter Intermediate Range Ballistic missile (IRBM) ends after 74 seconds.

USA March 10 Scientists at the NACA Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory (today, NASA’s Glenn Research Center) begin research into ion propulsion.

USA March 14 The Army’s Jupiter IRBM makes a successful 256 km (160 mile) ballistic test flight.

APRIL

USA April 6 Following a U.S. Navy statement that it would prefer a satellite launch to be carried out without the media, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences states that Vanguard won’t be ready for launch until early 1958.

USA April 20 A U.S. Air Force Thor IRBM test is destroyed by the range safety officer at Cape Canaveral after he mistakenly believes the missile to be heading inland.

USA April Wernher von Braun’s U.S. Army team at Huntsville begin initial design studies for a heavy-lift launcher with a clustered first stage of eight Jupiter H-1 engines – the origin of the Saturn I rocket.

MAY

USA May 1 The Navy conducts a successful test of a two-stage version of its three-stage Vanguard rocket. The solid fuelled upper stage (destined to become the third stage of the final rocket) reaches an altitude of 195 km (121 miles).

USSR May 15 First test launch of the R-7 ICBM. An engine fire in one of the boosters leads to premature failure 98 seconds after launch.

USA May 31 A full-scale test of the Jupiter IRBM achieves a down-range distance of 2,400 km (1,490 miles).

JUNE

USA June 6 U.S. press reports quote a ‘top scientist’ who claims that the Army is ready to launch a satellite if the Navy’s Vanguard fails.

USSR June 10 The Soviet Academy of Sciences announces that it is ready to launch a satellite into orbit ‘within the next few months’. At Baikonur, three attempts to launch a second R-7 prototype fail (subsequently traced to an incorrectly fitted valve).

USA June 11 First test of the U.S. Air Force’s Convair-built Atlas ICBM fails 22 seconds after launch.

JULY

USSR July 12 A third prototype of the R-7 fails 33 seconds after launch when the rocket falls apart after spinning along its longitudinal axis.USSR mid-July During meetings with government officials, Korolev and Glushko pitch the idea of developing a new, super-heavy launch vehicle. A new, lighter warhead for the R-7 is proposed, inceasing its range to 12,000 km (7,450 miles). Korolev also secures two R-7s for satellite tests.AUGUST

USA August 2 The U.S. Navy asks Congress for more funding for Project Vanguard, which is running badly behind schedule.

USA August 7 The Army’s Jupiter C IRBM makes another successful test, including the recovery of its scaled-down nose cone.

USSR August 21 The R-7 makes its first successful flight, travelling 6,500 km (4,050 miles) downrange, although its dummy warhead disintegrates on reentry. The launch is announced on August 26 by the Tass news agency.

SEPTEMBER

USSR September 7 A second test of the R-7 is partly successful but nose cone disintegration remains a problem, necessitating a complete redesign.

USSR September 17 On the 100th anniversary of the birth of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the Academy of Sciences declares a satellite launch to be ‘imminent’.

USA September 20 First successful launch of the U.S. Air Force’s Thor IRBM.

USA September 25 A second test of the Atlas ICBM fails 120 seconds after launch.

USA September 29 Scientists from 12 countries including the USSR assemble in Washington D.C. for a six-day conference to discuss space exploration plans to commemorate IGY.

OCTOBER

USSR October 4 Launch of Sputnik 1 – the first artificial satellite to reach Earth orbit. The news is greeted in America with widespread consternation.

USA October 8 President Eisenhower instructs the Army’s Jupiter to be prepared as a back-up for Vanguard.USA October 23 The U.S. Navy conducts a successful second test launch of the three-stage Vanguard rocket but only the first stage is ‘live’.

USSR October 26 Sputnik 1 ceases transmission. The following day Moscow radio announces that the USSR will launch a dog into space ‘soon’.

NOVEMBER

USSR November 3 The launch of Sputnik 2 sees space dog Laika become the first living creature to be sent into orbit, but she dies of heat exhaustion some three to four hous after launch.

USA November 4 Democratic Senator Lyndon B. Johnson calls for “bold new thinking” in America’s defence policy.

USA November 7 President Eisenhower delivers a TV broadcast in which he shows a recovered Jupiter nose cone to reassure the nation that it is not behind in the space race.

USSR November 13 Sputnik 2’s radio transmissions cease.

USA November 17 In a magazine article, British astronomer Fred Hoyle proposes launching a probe to photograph the lunar Far Side.

DECEMBER

USA December 1 NACA’s Max Faget puts forward a formal proposal for a manned ballistic spacecraft – later to become Project Mercury.

USA December 6 A Vanguard rocket bearing a tiny 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) test satellite explodes on the launch pad, witnessed by millions of TV viewers.

USA December 11 The U.S. Army announces it will launch a satellite aboard a Jupiter C rocket in January 1958.

USA December 12 A group of prominent U.S. scientists urge the government to form a national space agency.

USA December 17 First successful test of the Air Force’s Atlas ICBM.

JANUARY

USA January 1 The Thor IRBM enters service with the USAF.

USSR January 4 Sputnik 1 burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

USA January 31 Launched by a U.S. Army Jupiter-C rocket, Explorer 1 becomes the first American satellite to reach orbit, where it discovers the Van Allen radiation belts.

FEBRUARY

USA February 5 The U.S. Navy attempts to launch the Vanguard TV-3 backup satellite. The launcher fails after 57 seconds in flight.

MARCH

USA March 5 The U.S. Army launches the Explorer 2 satellite aboard a Jupiter C rocket, but it fails to reach orbit due to an upper stage failure.

USA March 17 The Vanguard 1 (TV-4) satellite is launched aboard a Vanguard rocket. As well as being the first satellite to employ solar power, it now holds the record as the oldest spacecraft in Earth orbit.

USA March 26 The Explorer 3 satellite is launched aboard a U.S. Army Juno II rocket; it subsequently confirms the existence of the Van Allen radiation belts.

APRIL

USA April 2 President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the formation of a new National Aeronautics and Space Administration into which the existing NACA (the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) will be absorbed.

USSR April 13 Sputnik 2 reenters the Earth’s atmosphere.

BRITAIN April 17 The first test launch of the British Skylark-1 rocket takes place from the missile testing range at Woomera in South Australia. It reaches a height of 145 km (90 miles).

USSR April 28 OKB-1’s first attempt to launch Mikhail Tikhonorov’s 1.4 tonne Object-D science satellite into orbit fails after an engine failure in its R-7 launch vehicle.

USA April 28 Vanguard flight TV-5 fails to reach orbit due to a malfunction of the rocket’s third stage.

MAY

USSR May 15 The Object-D back-up satellite is successfully launched into orbit, where it becomes known as Sputnik 3. But a faulty data recorder limits the return of experimental results.


USA May 18 The first full-size dummy warhead is recovered from the Atlantic Ocean following a Jupiter IRBM launch.

USA May 27 Successful launch of satellite SLV-1 abaord a Vanguard rocket, although a second stage malfunction prevents it from reaching its designated orbit.

JUNE

USA June 16 Initial contracts are awared by the U.S. Air Force for the Dyna-Soar spaceplane, with Boeing and Martin as competitive bidders.

USA June 23 North American Aviation’s Rocketdyne division is awarded a U.S. Air Force contract to build a rocket engine with 1.5 million pounds of thrust – the origin of the F-1 engine, five of which powered the first stage of the giant Saturn V Moon rocket.

USA June 26 Failed launch of satellite SLV-2 due to a second stage malfunction of its Vanguard launcher.

USSR June 30 The government signs a decree approving the study of nuclear rocket propulsion.JULY

USA July 4 First of 10 attempted launches of Project Pilot – an an air-launched anti-satellite weapons system developed by the U.S. Navy. All the launches fail.

USA July 26 Successful launch of the Explorer 4 satellite aboard a U.S. Army Jupiter C rocket.

USA July 29 President Eisenhower signs the National Aeronautics and Space Act, bringing NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) into being.

AUGUST

USA August 2 First successful launch of the U.S. Air Force’s Atlas B ICBM.

USA August 15 Wernher von Braun and his U.S. Army research team in Huntsville are assigned to develop a heavy launcher, later to become Saturn I.

USA August 17 A Thor-Able rocket carrying the USAF’s Pioneer 0 lunar orbiter explodes 77 seconds after launch.

USA August 24 Explorer 5 is launched aboard a Jupiter C rocket, but an accidental collision between the booster and the payload prevents it from reaching orbit.

SEPTEMBER

BRITAIN September 7 Maiden flight of Britain’s Black Knight kerosene and high-test peroxide (HTP)-powered launch vehicle reaches a height of 483 km (300 miles).

USSR September 23 First launch of the Soviet E-1 Luna 8K72 lunar probe fails when its modified R-7 launcher disintegrates after 93 seconds.

USA September 26 Vanguard satellite SLV-3 fails to reach orbit and is destroyed over central Africa.OCTOBER

USA October 1 NASA officially opens for business.

USA October 4 America’s first ICBM base, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, becomes operational.

USA October 11 Launch of the Pioneer 1 lunar probe fails to escape Earth orbit after a third stage failure of its launcher.

USSR October 12 A second attempt to launch the Soviet E-1 Luna probe fails when its modified R-7 rocket explodes 104 seconds after launch.

USA October 14 NASA formally requests that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) be absorbed into the space agency.

NOVEMBER

USA November 3 NASA Administrator T. Keith Glennan publicly announces NASA’s manned spaceflight program along with the formation of the Space Task Group – a panel of scientist and engineers from the various NASA centres.

CANADA November 8 Launch of Black Brant, a Canadian-built sounding rocket.

USA November 8 Launch of the Pioneer 2 lunar probe fails after an upper stage ignition failure.USA November 26 NASA announces Project Mercury.

DECEMBER

USA December 3 The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) becomes part of NASA.

USSR December 4 Third launch of a Soviet E-1 Luna probe fails after a turbopump failure in the launch vehicle.

USA December 6 Launch of NASA’s Pioneer 3 lunar probe marks the maiden flight of the Juno II rocket but fails to reach orbit.

USA December 13 Squirrel monkey ‘Gordo’ survives a 2,400 (1,500 mile) flight aboard a Jupiter C rocket but is lost at sea when the nose cone’s flotation system fails.

USA December 18 NASA launches SCORE – the world’s first communications satellite – aboard an Atlas B rocket.

USA December 20 First launch of the hypergolic-fuelled Titan I missile explodes on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral.

USA December 24 The first launch of an Atlas C ICBM, .

CHINA Qian Xuesen, the father of the Chinese space programme, proposes a satellite project to the Chinese government; the Jiuquan Launch Center is opened.

USA A NASA selection committee decides that the candidate pool for astronaut selection will be from military test pilots.

JANUARY

USSR January 2 Launch of lunar probe E-1 No.4 (Luna 1), the first spacecraft to escape Earth orbit. It fails to perform its intended lunar fly-by due to premature cut-off of the R-7-derived Luna rocket’s upper stage, but goes on to orbit the Sun.

USA January 7 First launch of a submarine-based Polaris missile, from Cape Canaveral.

USA January 12 NASA awards the contract to build its Mercury spacecraft to the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation.

USA January 21 First launch of a Discoverer spy satellite under the CIA/USAF’s top- secret Project Corona program. It fails to achieve orbit.

FEBRUARY

USA February 17 Successful launch of the U.S. Navy’s Vanguard 2 weather satellite aboard a Vanguard rocket.

USA February 28 The successful launch of the Discoverer 1 spy satellite marks the maiden flight of the Thor-Agena staged rocket combination, and is the first spacecraft to be placed in polar orbit.

MARCH

USA March 3-4 NASA’s Pioneer 4 probe passes within 80,000 km (49,700 miles) of the Moon.

USA late March After screening the service records of 508 astronaut candidates, NASA’s Selection Committee recommends 18 men “without medical reservation”.

APRIL

USA April 9 The Mercury Seven astronauts are announced to the world. They are Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Richard “Deke” Slayton, Walter Schirra, Scott Capenter and Gordon Cooper.

USA April 13 Launch of the Discoverer 2 spy satellite, intended to test airborne recovery of satellite’s film capsule. The recovery fails due to a timer error.

MAY

USA May 28 The first space primates, the monkeys Able and Baker, complete a sub-orbital flight aboard a U.S. Army Jupiter AM-18 ballistic missile.

JUNE

USA June 9 Wernher von Braun’s ABMA team at Huntsville publishes Project Horizon – a proposal to establish a U.S. Army base on the Moon.

USA June 3 The Discoverer 3 spy satellite fails to reach orbit.

USSR June 18 Launch of lunar probe E-1A No.5 (Luna 1959A), the attempt to launch a spacecraft to impact the Moon. It fails 153 seconds after launch.

USA June 25 The Discoverer 4 spy satellite fails to reach orbit.

JULY

USA July 16 Launch of the Explorer 6 scientific satellite is aborted after its Thor-Able launcher goes out of control.

AUGUST

USA August 7 Successful launch of the Explorer 6 back-up satellite, which goes on to provide the first digitally transmitted photographs of the Earth from space.

USA August 13 The Discoverer 5 spy satellite reaches orbit but suffers a power supply failure.

USA August 19 The Discoverer 6 spy satellite reaches orbit but is lost during recovery.

SEPTEMBER

USA September 1 Mercury spacecraft contractor McDonnell proposes an enlarged version, “Mercury Mark II”, to NASA.

USA September 9 Launch of the “Big Joe” boilerplate Mercury capsule test aboard an SM-65D Atlas launcher. The rocket fails to separate but the spacecraft is recovered.

USSR September 12 Lunar probe E-1A No.7 (Luna 2) becomes the first man-made object to impact the surface of the Moon.

USA September 17 Maiden flight of the USAF’s X-15 hypersonic research plane.

USA September 18 Vanguard 3 marks the final flight of the U.S.Vanguard rocket. Its satellite payload fails to separate from the rocket’s upper stage, but still manages to study a large portion of the Earth’s magnetic field.

OCTOBER

USSR October 4 Lunar probe E-2A (Luna 3) is successfully launched on a lunar fly-by mission.

USSR October 7 Luna 3 returns the first ever digitally transmitted images of the far side of the Moon.

NOVEMBER

USA November 7 The Discoverer 7 spy satellite fails to reach orbit.

USA November 20 The Discoverer 8 spy satellite goes astray in orbit, making recovery impossible.

USA November 26 Failed launch of the JPL-built Pioneer P-3 lunar fly-by probe aboard an Atlas-Able rocket.

DECEMBER

USA December 4 NASA launches monkey Sam in a sub-orbital Mercury capsule test flight aboard a Little Joe 2 rocket.

USSR December 10 The Soviet Government authorizes a variety of space development programs, including the four-stage R-7-derived 8K78 Molniya launcher.

USSR December 30 OKB-1 boss Sergei Korolev approves preliminary designs for three versions of a new heavy-lift launch vehicle with nuclear engines.

JANUARY

USA January 28 NASA presents its 10-year plan to Congress. The plan includes a three-man spacecraft (later named Apollo) to succeed Mercury.

MARCH

USSR March 7 The Soviet Union selects its first group of cosmonauts – Air Force Group 1.

USA March 11 Launch of Pioneer 5 aboard a Thor-Able IV rocket. The interplanetary probe eventually succeeds in transmitting radio signals from a distance of 36.2 million km (22.5 million miles) – a record for the time.

USA March 14 The Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) in Huntsville is absorbed by NASA and renamed the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. It becomes fully operational on July 1.

USSR March 16 The first group of 20 Soviet cosmonauts commence training.

USSR March 24 Sergei Korolev’s OKB-1 design bureau issues initial proposals for the conventionally powered N-1 super-rocket.

APRIL

USA April Seven astronauts are secretly chosen for the USAF’s X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane programme: Neil Armstrong, Bill Dana, Henry C. Gordon, Pete Knight, Russell L. Rogers, Milt Thompson, and James W. Wood.

USA April 1 Launch of Tiros-1, the first weather-monitoring satellite.

USA April 13 The U.S. Navy launches Transit 1B, the first navigational satellite. It marks the maiden flight of the Thor-Ablestar rocket and the first restart of an upper stage in space.

USSR April 15 The launch of Soviet probe E-3 No.1 (Luna 1960A) on an attempted lunar photographic fly-by fails after an upper stage fault.

USSR April 16 The attempted launch of probe E-3 No.2 on a lunar photographic fly-by mission fails ends in a launch pad explosion.

USA April 29 The first test firing of the H-1 engines powering the first stage of the Saturn 1 rocket takes place at MSFC in Huntsville.

MAY

USSR May 15 The first prototype of OKB-1’s Vostok spacecraft (Korabl Sputnik 1) reaches orbit.

JUNE

USSR June 23 The Soviet government authorizes preliminary work on Sergei Korolev’s N-1 rocket during 1961-1963.

JULY

USA July 29 Mercury-Atlas 1 is the first flight of the Atlas LV-3B rocket. It suffers a structural failure during ascent but still reaches 13 km (8.1 miles).

USA July 29 NASA unveils Project Apollo.

AUGUST

USA August 10 Discoverer 13 is launched into orbit. Its film capsule is later recovered at sea – the first successful recovery of a man-made object from orbit.

USA August 18 Discoverer 14 has its film capsule successfully retrieved in mid-air by a specially modified C-119 aircraft.

USSR August 19 Two dogs, Belka and Strelka, are launched aboard the prototype Vostok spacecraft Korabl Sputnik 2 (“Sputnik 5”) and become the first animals to be safely returned from orbit.

OCTOBER

USA October 4 Launch of U.S. Courier 1B – the first active communications satellite.

USSR October 10 Launch of Mars probe 1M No.1 (Mars 1960A) on a proposed planetary fly-by fails 301 seconds after launch due to vibration problems.

USSR October 14 Launch of the Mars probe 1M No.2 (Mars 1960B) fails due to a second stage ignition failure of its Molniya rocket.

USSR October 24 More than 100 people are killed when an R-16 ICBM explodes on the launch pad at Tyuratam. Among them is Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin, head of the Soviet Strategic Missile forces.

USA October 25 NASA invites private proposals for the Apollo spacecraft from North American, Convair, General Electric and the Martin Company.

NOVEMBER

USA November 21 First launch of Mercury-Redstone rocket flight MR-1 ends in an engine cut-out one second after lift-off (the “four-inch flight”).

DECEMBER

USA December 15 Launch of the Pioneer P-31 lunar orbiter ends in failure after the explosion of its Atlas-Able rocket’s first stage.

USA December 19 Mercury-Redstone flight MR-1A, the re-launch of Mercury-Redstone 1, reaches 210 km (130 miles).

USSR December 22 First flight of a fully configured Vostok-K spacecraft ends with a second stage engine failure, but the spacecraft separates and is safely recovered with the dogs Kometa and Shutka aboard.

JANUARY

USA January 31 Chimpanzee Ham makes a successful sub-orbital flight aboard Mercury-Redstone flight MR-2.

FEBRUARY

USA February 1 First test of the USAF’s Minuteman silo-based ballistic missile.

USSR February 4 OKB-1’s first attempt to launch a Venus probe, 1VA No.1, fails when the probe is left stranded in Earth orbit.

USSR February 12 OKB-1’s Venera-1 probe is launched toward Venus but contact is lost before its intended flyby.

MARCH

USSR March 9 Vostok 3KA-1 (Korabl Sputnik 4) carries a dummy cosmonaut, the dog Chernushka, mice and a guinea pig into orbit. A successful recovery is made.

USSR March 25 Vostok-3KA-2 (Korabl Sputnik 5) successfully carries a dummy cosmonaut and the dog Zvezdochka into orbit, as well as a TV system and other scientific apparatus.

APRIL

USSR April 9 The Soviet R-9 compact ICBM is launched for the first time.

USSR April 12 Yuri Gagarin completes the world's first manned orbital space flight aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft. The single-orbit flight lasts 108 minutes

MAY

USA May 5 Alan Shepard in Freedom 7 completes a sub-orbital hop aboard Mercury-Redstone flight MR-3 to become the first American in space.

USA May 25 In a speech to the U.S. Congress, newly elected President John F. Kennedy announces that an American will land on the Moon and be returned safely to Earth before the end of the decade.

JULY

USA July 21 Virgil Grissom in Liberty Bell 7 completes a sub-orbital hop aboard Mercury-Redstone flight MR-4.

USA July 28 NASA invites bids for the Project Apollo prime contract.

AUGUST

USSR August 6–7 Cosmonaut Gherman Titov completes a 25-hour orbital flight aboard Vostok 2.

SEPTEMBER

USA September 7 NASA selects the government-owned Michoud Ordnance Plant near New Orleans, Louisiana, as the site for production of its big new Saturn launch vehicle under the overall direction of Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

OCTOBER

USA October 25 NASA announces the acquisition of the Mississippi Test Facility as the site for Saturn stage testing under the direction of MSFC.

USA October 27 Flight SA–1 is the successful maiden flight of the Saturn I rocket.

NOVEMBER

USA November 1 Flight Mercury-Scout 1 loses control 28 seconds after launch, and is aborted – the only attempted launch of the Blue Scout II rocket.

USA November 18 Launch of the Ranger 2 lunar probe test flight ends in failure after its Agena upper stage fails to restart in space.

USA November 19 North American is named by NASA as prime contractor for the Apollo spacecraft, although the exact method by which Apollo will reach the Moon has yet to be determined.

USA November 29 Mercury-Atlas test flight MA-5, carrying Enos the chimpanzee, makes two orbits of the Earth.

DECEMBER

USA December 7 NASA publicly announces Project Gemini, a two-seat precursor to the Apollo spacecraft designed to practice the rendezvous, docking and EVA techniques needed to make a Moon landing..

USSR December 11 First launch of the Soviet Zenit spy satellite, based on the Vostok spacecraft. It fails to reach orbit.

JANUARY

USA January 10 NASA announces plans to build the giant three-stage C-5 version of the Saturn rocket (later rechristened Saturn V).

USA January 26 The Ranger 3 probe is launched on an intended lunar impact mission, but subsequently misses the Moon by 36,874 km (22,912 miles).

FEBRUARY

USSR February 12 OKB-1’s Venera 1 probe (1VA No.2) is launched toward Venus but contact is lost before its intended fly-by.

USA February 20 John Glenn in Friendship 7 completes the first American manned orbital spaceflight aboard Mercury-Atlas MA-6.

MARCH

USSR March 12 Five civilian women with parachuting experience are added to the Soviet cosmonaut training programme.

USA March 16 First test flight of the Titan II rocket, selected as the launch vehicle for project Gemini.

APRIL

USA April 23 Ranger 4 is launched towards the Moon but impacts the wrong side due to a timer malfunction and returns no data.

USA April 25 The second test flight of the Saturn I, SA-2, reaches 45 km (90 miles).

USA April 26 Launch of the UK-built Ariel 1 satellite aboard a U.S. Thor-Delta rocket.

MAY

USA May 8 Atlas LV-3C Centaur-A is the maiden flight of the Atlas-Centaur rocket. It explodes due to insulation problems after reaching 6 km (3.7 miles).

USSR May 16 Sergei Korolev approves preliminary designs for the N-1 rocket – a 2,200-ton, three-stage launch vehicle capable of launching a 75 ton payload. However, the project is given a relatively low priority by the government.

USA May 24 Launch of Scott Carpenter in Aurora 7 aboard Mercury-Atlas flight MA-7.

JUNE

USSR June 1 Vostok/Zenit-2 No.3, the maiden flight of the Vostok 2 satellite launcher, ends in engine failure 1.8 seconds after launch.

FRANCE June 14 Agreements are signed establishing the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) and the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO).

JULY

USA July 10 The U.S. launches Telstar 1, enabling the intermittent transmission of transatlantic TV signals.

USA July 11 NASA announces that it will use the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous method to reach the Moon, necessitating the development of a Luner Excursion Module (LEM).

USA July 22 Launch of the Mariner 1 Venus probe is aborted by the range safety officer after a guidance system failure.

USSR July 28 The Soviet Union successfully launches its first Zenit spy satellite, officially designated Cosmos 7.

USA July 28 Grumman is awarded the contract to build the Apollo Lunar Excursion Module. The projected Saturn V (formerly C-5) is announced as the launch vehicle for a lunar landing.

AUGUST

USSR August 25 Launch of an attempted Venus landing mission by the Venera-type probe 2MV-1 No.3. It fails to escape Earth orbit after an upper stage failure.

USSR August 11-15 Vostok 3 (launched August 11) and Vostok 4 (launched August 12) orbit the Earth simultaneously, piloted by cosmonauts Andrian Nikoleyev and Pavel Popovich.

USA August 27 The Mariner 2 is launched towards Venus.

SEPTEMBER

USSR September 1 Launch of Venus landing probe 2MV-1 No.4 fails to escape from Earth orbit.

USA September 11 NASA announces the selection of Astronaut Group 2 – the “New Nine”.

USSR September 12 Launch of tVenus fly-by probe 2MV-1 No.1 fails to escape Earth orbit.

USA September 19 The names of the USAF’s X-20 Dyna-Soar astronauts are announced to the public.

USA September 29 Launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, Alouette 1 becomes the first Canadian satellite, and the first constructed outside the U.S. or USSR, to go into orbit.

OCTOBER

USA October 3 Walter Schirra in Sigma 7 completes a six-orbit mission aboard Mercury-Atlas flight MA-8.

USA October 18 Launch of the Ranger 5 lunar impact mission. On October 21, it misses Moon by 725 km (450 miles) due to a power system malfunction.

USSR October 24 Launch of Mars probe 2MV-4 No.3 (Mars1962A) on an attempted fly-by mission ends in an upper stage failure.

NOVEMBER

USSR November 1 Launch of Mars probe 2MV-4 No.4 (Mars 1) on a planetary fly-by mission. The communications system fails on March 21, 1963, just before the scheduled fly-by.

USSR November 4 Mars landing probe 2MV-3 No.1 (Mars 1962C) is left stranded in low Earth orbit.

USSR November 11 Mars fly-by probe 3MV-1A No.2 (Cosmos 21) is left stranded in low Earth orbit.

DECEMBER

USA December 14 Mariner 2 completes the first fly-by of Venus.

JANUARY

USSR January 4 The launch of lunar landing probe E-6 No.2 marks the maiden flight of the uprated Molniya-L rocket. It fails to escape Earth orbit.

USA January 10 The Soviet Union selects its second group of cosmonauts – Air Force Group 2.

USA January 29 Flight SA-5 marks the first orbital launch of the Saturn I.

USA January 30 Launch of the Ranger 6 lunar impact mission, which lands near the Sea of Tranquility on February 2 but fails to return any imagery.

FEBRUARY

USSR February 3 Launch of lunar lander E-6 No.3 fails to reach Earth orbit.

APRIL

USSR April 2 Launch of the E-6 No.4 lunar lander, which fails to perform a course correction burn and misses the Moon.

MAY

USA May 15-16 Gordon Cooper in Faith 7 conducts a 34-hour, 22-orbit mission aboard Mercury-Atlas flight MA-9 – the last in the Mercury program.

JUNE

USSR June 14-19 Valery Bykovsky in Vostok 5 completes a 199-hour, 81-orbit mission.

USSR June 16-19 Valentina Tereshkova becomes the world's first woman in space aboard Vostok 6.

JULY

USA July 19 USAF X-15 flight 90, piloted by Joseph Walker, reaches an altitude of 106 km (67 miles)

USA July 26 The Syncom-2 communications satellite reaches synchronous orbit.

OCTOBER

USA October 17 NASA announces selection of Astronaut Group 3 – the “Fourteen”.

NOVEMBER

USSR November 11 Launch of the Cosmos 21 Venus fly-by mission fails to leave Earth orbit.

USSR November 16 The launch of the Zenit 4/Cosmos 22 spy satellite marks the first flight of the Voshkod rocket.

USA November 22 U.S. President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. His successor, former Vice President Lyndon Johnson, subsequently reaffirms America’s commitment to the Apollo program.

DECEMBER

USA December 10 The U.S. Air Force cancels the X-20 Dyna-Soar manned spaceplane programme and announces its replacement, the Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL).

USA late 1963 NASA’s Launch Operations Center is renamed the Kennedy Space Center. Cape Canaveral is renamed Cape Kennedy. NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center is opened in Houston, Texas.

FEBRUARY

USSR February 19 Venus fly-by probe 3MV-1A No.4A fails to reach Earth orbit due to an upper stage failure.

MARCH

USSR March 21 The launch of lunar landing probe E-6 No.6 fails to reach orbit.

USSR March 27 Venus landing probe 3MV-1 No.5 (Cosmos 27) is left stranded in low Earth orbit.

APRIL

USSR April 2 A second Venus landing probe 3MV-1 No.4 (Zond 1) escapes Earth orbit but fails en route to Venus.

USA April 8 Launch of the unmanned Gemini flight GT-1 marks the first test flight of the Gemini program.

USSR April 20 Launch of lunar landing probe E-6 No.5 fails to reach orbit.

MAY

USA May 28 Saturn I flight SA-6 marks the first test of an Apollo boilerplate capsule.

JUNE

USSR June 4 The Zond 1964A lunar landing probe fails at launch due to a fault in the core stage of its Molniya rocket.

JULY

USA July 31 Ranger 7 successfully impacts the Moon near the Mare Nubium, three days after it launch on July 28.

AUGUST

USA August 19 Syncom-3 becomes the world's first geostationary satellite.

SEPTEMBER

USA September NASA opens the Electronics Research Center (ERC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

OCTOBER

USSR October 12-13 Voskhod 1 becomes the first spacecraft to orbit the Earth with a three-man crew.

USSR October 31 Third-intake NASA astronaut Ted Freeman is killed when a bird smashes through the cockpit canopy of his T-38 jet trainer. Freeman ejects too close to the ground for his parachute to open properly.

NOVEMBER

USA November 5 Launch of the Mariner 3 Mars fly-by mission, which is lost after the payload fairing fails to separate.

USA November 28 Mariner 4 begins its 7.5-month journey to Mars.

USSR November 30 Launch of the 3MV-4A No.2 (Zond 2) Mars fly-by mission. Communications are lost in April 1965, but the probe eventually flies past Mars on August 6, 1965.

DECEMBER

USA December 15 The first Italian satellite, San Marco 1, is launched aboard a U.S. Scout rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia.

JANUARY

USA January 19 Launch of the second unmanned Gemini test flight, GT-2.

FEBRUARY

USA February 16 Saturn I flight SA-9 marks the third Apollo boilerplate test and also launches Pegasus A, the first of three micrometeoroid detection satellites.

USA February 20 Ranger 8 successfully impacts the Moon.

MARCH

USSR March 12 The launch of lunar landing probe E-6 No.9 fails to escape low Earth orbit.

USSR March 18 Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov conducts the firstever spacewalk during the 24-hour, 16-orbit fight of Voskhod 2.

USSR March 20 Cosmos 60, the sixth Soviet attempt at a lunar soft-landing mission, fails to leave Earth orbit.

USA March 23 Virgil Grissom and John Young fly a three-orbit mission aboard flight GT-3, the first manned launch of the Gemini programme.

USA March 24 Ranger 9 successfully impacts the Moon.

APRIL

USSR April 10 The attempted launch of lunar landing probe E-6 No.8 fails to reach orbit.

MAY

USSR May 9 The successful launch of lunar landing probe E-6 No.10 (Luna 5).

USSR May 12 Luna 5 crashes into the Moon after attempting a soft landing.

USA May 25 Saturn I flight SA-8 marks the fourth Apollo boilerplate test and also deploys the Pegasus B micrometeroid detection satellite.

JUNE

USA June 3–7 Astronaut Ed White performs the first U.S. spacewalk aboard Gemini flight GT-4 partnered by James McDivitt.

USSR June 8 Launch of lunar landing probe E-6 No.7 (Luna 6). It misses the Moon by 8,500 km (5,280 miles) on June 11.

USA June 28 NASA announces the selection of Astronaut Group 4, consisting of just six new astronauts.

JULY

USA July 15 Mariner 4 completes a successful fly-by of Mars at a range of 9,846 km (6,118 miles)

USSR July 16 The first prototype of the UR-500 (later Proton) rocket is launched from Baikonur.

USSR July 18 Launch of lunar probe 3MV-4 No.3 (Zond 3). Originally intended to be launched toward Mars in late 1964, the probe is successfully reconfigured for a lunar fly-by and returns images of the Moon’s surface before heading off on a Mars-bound trajectory.

USA July 30 Saturn I flight SA-10 marks the fifth Apollo boilerplate test and the final Saturn I test, as well as deploying the Pegasus C satellite.

AUGUST

USA August 21–29 Gemini flight GT-5, crewed by Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad, marks the first use of fuel cells in a spacecraft to supply electric power.

OCTOBER

USSR October 4 Launch of lunar landing probe E-6 No. 11 (Luna 7. It subsequently crashes into the Moon on October 7.

NOVEMBER

USA November Eight astronauts are selected for the USAF’s Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) programme.

USSR November 2 Second test launch of the UR-500 (Proton) rocket.

USSR November 12 Launch of Venus fly-by probe 3MV-4 No.4 (Venera 2). It subsequently flies by Venus at a range of 24,000 km (14,900 miles).

USSR November 16 Launch of Venus fly-by probe 3MV-3 No.1 (Venera 3), which subsequently becomes the first probe to impact the planet.

USSR November 23 Launch of Venus fly-by probe 4MV-4 No.6 (Cosmos 96), which fails to reach orbit and re-enters the atmosphere. Some believe it crashes near Kecksburg, Pennsylvania on December 9 – an event known to UFO researchers as the “Kecksburg Incident”.

FRANCE November 26 A French Diamant-A rocket launched from Hammaguir in Algeria orbits the satellite Astérix A-1, making France only the third nation to build and launch its own satellite.

DECEMBER

USSR December 3 Launch of lunar landing probe E-6 No. 12 (Luna 8), which subsequently crashes into the Moon on December 6.

USA December 4–18 Frank Borman and James Lovell in Gemini flight GT-7 complete a 206-orbit mission, as well as achieving a rendezvous with Gemini flight GT-6A.

USA December 15–15 Gemini flight GT-6A, crewed by Walter Schirra and Thomas Stafford, makes the first-ever manned orbital rendezvous (with Gemini GT-7) after its Agena target vehicle is lost.

JANUARY

USSR January 14 Sergei Korolev dies after botched surgery. After a six-month gap, leadership of the OKB-1 design bureau passes to Korolev’s deputy, Vasili Mishin.

USSR January 31 Successful launch of lunar landing probe E-6 No. 13/202 (Luna 9).

FEBRUARY

USSR February 3 Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon.

USA February 26 AS-201 marks the first test flight of the uprated Saturn IB rocket and the first sub-orbital test of the fully configured Apollo Block 1 CSM.

USSR February 27 Venera 2 flies by Venus as intnded but returns no data due to an earlier systems failure.

USA February 28 Astronauts Elliott See and Charles Bassett, the intended crew for the Gemini GT-9 mission, are killed when their T-38 aircraft crashes at the Lambert Field airport in St Louis, Missouri

MARCH

USSR March 1 Attempted launch lunar orbiter E-6S No. 204 (Cosmos 111) fails to reach Earth orbit.

USSR March 1 Venera 3 crash-lands on Venus – the first spacecraft to land on another planet’s surface.

USA March 16 Gemini flight GT-8 completes the first ever manual docking with another spacecraft – an Agena-8 target vehicle. Crewmembers Neil Armstrong and David Scott are forced to make an emergency re-entry after a control malfunction, resulting in the first Pacific Ocean splashdown.

USSR March 31 Lunar orbiter E-6S No. 206 (Luna 10) is launched towards the Moon. The spacecraft enters lunar orbit on April 3, 1966, becoming the first artificial satellite to orbit the Moon. It remains active for 56 days.

APRIL

USA April 4 NASA Astronaut Group 5 (“the Original 19”) is announced.

USSR April 30 Lunar orbiter (Luna 1966) fails to reach Earth orbit.

JUNE

USA June 2 Surveyor 1 makes the first lunar soft landing by a U.S. spacecraft.

USA June 3–6 Launch of Gemini flight GT-9, piloted by backup crew Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan. Despite a 127 minute EVA by Cernan, GT-9 misses its planned orbital rendezvous after its Agena target vehicle fails to reach Earth orbit.

JULY

USA July 1 Explorer 33 is launched on a lunar orbiting mission, but is switched to an eccentric Earth orbit.

USA July 5 AS-203 marks the second test flight of the Saturn IB and the first test of the SIV-B liquid hydrogen-fuelled upper stage.

USA July 18–21 Gemini flight GT-10, crewed by John Young and Michael Collins, successfully docks with its Agena target vehicle and attains a record altitude of 763 km (474 miles).

AUGUST

USA August 10 Launch of Lunar Orbiter 1 on what proves to be a successful mission to photograph potential lunar landing sites.

USSR August 24 Successful launch of lunar orbiter E-6LF No. 101 (Luna 11). It enters lunar orbit on August 27, where it remains active for 38 days.

USA August 25 AS-202 (“Apollo 3”) is the third test flight of the Saturn IB and includes a sub-orbital Apollo Block 1 CSM test.

SEPTEMBER

USA September 12–15 Gemini flight GT-11, crewed by Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon, successfully docks with its Agena target vehicle by tether and uses the Agena’s engine to reach a record altitude of 1,369 km (850 miles).

USA September 23 The Surveyor 2 lunar landing probe crashes into the Moon.

OCTOBER

USSR October 22 Successful launch of the lunar orbiter E-6LF No. 102 (Luna 12). It enters lunar orbit on October 25, where it remains active for 85 days.

NOVEMBER

USA November 3 A Titan IIIC-9 rocket launches a mock-up of the USAF’s Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL), attached to the re-used and modified Gemini GT-2 capsule.

USA November 11-15 Gemini flight GT-12, crewed by Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin, successfully docks with its Agena target vehicle to bring the Gemini program to an end. Aldrin conducts three EVAs.

USA November 18 Lunar Orbiter 2 commences seven day of lunar photography.

USSR November 28 Unsuccessful launch of the Soyuz 7K-OK No.2 prototype spacecraft (Cosmos 133) aboard a Soyuz rocket.

DECEMBER

USSR December 14 Soyuz prototype 7K-OK No.1 is destroyed on the launch pad after accidental deployment of the launch escape system.

USA December 22 The Northrop HL-10 wingless “lifting-body” rocket plane makes its first flight.

USSR December 21 Launch of lunar lander E-6M No. 205 (Luna 13). It successfully soft-lands on the Moon on December 24.

JANUARY

USA January 27 The three-man crew of Apollo 1 (AS-204) – Virgil Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee – are killed when their Block 1 Command Module CM-012 is destroyed by fire during a test and training exercise at Launch Complex 34, Cape Canaveral.

FEBRUARY

USA February 4 Lunar Orbiter 3 launches on s mission to orbit the Moon.

USSR February 7 Soyuz prototype 7K-OK No.3 (Cosmos 140) is launched successfully into orbit, but sinks in the Aral Sea after a botched re-entry.

MARCH

USSR March 2 A UR-500 (Proton) rocket launches the first unmanned prototype of the 7K-L1 manned circumlunar spacecraft.

USA March 8 Launch OSO-3 – the third Orbiting Solar Observatory. It discovers gamma-ray emission from the plane of the Milky Way – the first detection of an extrasolar radiation source by a satellite.

USSR March 10 Second test launch of the 7K-L1 spacecraft aboard a Proton rocket to test firing of the upper stage in orbit. It is followed by another test on April 8.

APRIL

USA April 5 A review board delivers a damning report on faults with the Block 1 Apollo CSM that led to the Apollo 1 tragedy. The recommended modifications to the spacecraft are not completed until October 9, 1968.

USA April 20 Surveyor 3 lands on the Moon in the Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms).

USSR April 24 The launch of Soyuz 7K-OK No.4 (Soyuz 1) marks the first manned flight of the Soyuz spacecraft. A day later, after numerous technical problems, former Voskhod 1 cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies when his descent module’s braking parachute fails to open during reentry.

MAY

USA May 11 Lunar Orbiter 4 begins a systematic photographic survey of the lunar surface which continues until May 26.

USSR May 17 Successful launch of lunar orbiter E-6LS No. 111 (Cosmos 159) in support of the Soviet manned lunar program.

JUNE

USSR June 12 Successful launch of Venus lander V-67 No.310 (Venera 4). It goes on to become the first probe to transmit data from Venus’s atmosphere.

USA June 14 Launch of the Mariner 5 Venus probe.

USSR June 17 Launch of Venus lander V-67 No.311 (Cosmos 167) fails to escape Earth orbit.

JULY

USA July 17 The lunar lander Surveyor 4 crashes into the Moon.

USA July 19 The Explorer 35 satellite is launched on a six-year orbital survey of the Moon.

AUGUST

USA August 6 Lunar Orbiter 5 begins photographing the far side of the Moon.

SEPTEMBER

USA September 11 Surveyor 5 lands on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility, one of the sites shortlisted for a lunar landing.

USSR September 28 First launch of the fully configured 7K-L1 circumlunar spacecraft ends in a first stage failure of its Proton rocket, but the spacecraft itself is saved by the launch escape system.

OCTOBER

USA October 4 NASA announces its second group of scientist-astronauts – NASA Group 6 XS-11 (“the Excess Eleven”).

USA October 5 Astronaut Clifton Williams is killed when his T-38 aircraft crashes near Talahassee, Florida.

USSR October 18 Venera 4 descends through the atmosphere of Venus, returning 93 minutes’ worth of data.

USA October 19 Mariner 5 flies to within 3,990 km (2,480 miles) of Venus.

USSR October 27 Launch of the unmanned Soyuz 7K-OK No.4 (Cosmos 186) on the first Soyuz Earth orbital docking mission.

USSR October 30 The Soviet Union achieves the first automated docking of two spacecraft in orbit as the unmanned Soyuz 7K-OK No.4 docks with its 7K-OK No.5 target vehicle (Cosmos 188).

NOVEMBER

USA November 9 Saturn flight AS-501 (“Apollo 4”) marks the first flight of the Saturn V Moon rocket, and the first live test of the all-new F-1-engined S-IC first stage and the liquid hydrogen-fuelled S-II second stage.

USA November 10 Surveyor 6 lands on the Moon in the Sinus Medii.

USSR November 22 OKB-1 makes another attempt to test its circumlunar spacecraft with the launch of 7K-L1 No.5. The Proton launcher’s second stage fails, but again the spacecraft is saved by the launch escape system.

AUSTRALIA November 29 The first Australian satellite, WRESAT, is launched from Woomera aboard a U.S. Redstone rocket.

JANUARY

USA January 10 Surveyor 7 lands on the Moon amid rocky debris surrounding the Tycho crater.

USA January 22 Apollo flight AS-204 (“Apollo 5”) marks the first unmanned test flight of the Apollo Lunar Module.

FEBRUARY

USSR February 7 Launch of lunar orbiter E-6LS No. 112 fails to reach Earth orbit.

MARCH

USSR March 2 A third unmanned test of the 7K-L1 circumlunar spacecraft ends in launcher failure.

USSR March 27 Vostok 1 cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, dies with his instructor when their MiG-15 trainer aircraft crashes in fog near the town of Kirzhach.

APRIL

USA April 4 Apollo flight AS -502 (“Apollo 6”) is the second and final unmanned test flight of the Saturn V.

USSR April 7 Launch of the circumlunar probe E-6LS No. 113 (Luna 14). It enters lunar orbit three days later.

USSR April 14 Launch of the unmanned Soyuz 7K-OK No.6 (Cosmos 212). Two days later it docks with the similarly unmanned 7K-OK No.7 (Cosmos 213) to complete a second successful Soyuz docking test.

USSR April 23 A fourth unmanned test of the 7K-L1 circumlunar spacecraft fails after problems with its Proton rocket launcher.

JULY

USSR July A The fifth test of an unmanned 7K-L1 ends in a launch pad explosion, killing one person and delaying the programme.

AUGUST

USSR August 28 Soyuz unmanned test flight 7K-OK No.9 (Cosmos 238) is successfully launched aboard a Soyuz rocket.

SEPTEMBER

USSR September 15 Successful launch of an unmanned 7K-L1 circumlunar spacecraft (Zond 5) aboard a Proton rocket. It flies around the Moon at a range of 1,950 km (1,200 miles) before splashing down in the Indian Ocean on September 21.

OCTOBER

USA October 11-22 Apollo 7 marks the first manned flight of an Apollo spacecraft (CSM only), as well as the first U.S. three-man spaceflight and the first to transmit live TV pictures of the crew.

USSR October 25 Successful launch of an unmanned Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft aboard a Soyuz rocket (Soyuz 2) as the prelude to a manned docking mission.

USSR October 26 Successful launch of Soyuz 7K-OK (Soyuz 3) with cosmonaut Georgi Beregevoi aboard. He subsequently achieves rendezvous with Soyuz 2, but fails to dock after an orientation error.

NOVEMBER

USSR November 10 Second successful launch of an umanned 7K-L1 circumlunar spacecraft (Zond 6) aboard a Proton rocket. It flies around the Moon at a range of 2,420 km (1,500 miles) but is lost during re-entry on November 17.

DECEMBER

USSR December 21 Launch of the Apollo 8 circumlunar mission – the first Apollo spacecraft to be launched by a Saturn V rocket, and the first manned test of the Saturn V after only two unmanned tests.

USA December 24 Apollo 8 becomes the first manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon and the first to transmit live TV pictures of the lunar surface.

USA December 27 Apollo 8 becomes the first Apollo spacecraft to return to Earth under manual control.

JANUARY

USSR January 5 Launch of Venus landing probe V-69 No.330 (Venera 5). Its fate remains unknown.

USSR January 10 Launch of Venus landing probe V-69 No.331 (Venera 6). Its fate, too, remains unknown.

USSR January 14 Launch of Soyuz 4 with cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov aboard on a double manned docking mission.

USSR January 15 Launch of Soyuz 5 with cosmonauts Vladimir Volynov, Yevgeny Khrunov and Alexei Eliseev aboard.

USSR January 16 Komorov achieves the first ever docking of two manned spacecraft in orbit when he docks successfully with Soyuz 5.

USSR January 20 An unmanned Soviet 7K-L1 circumlunar mission fails after its Proton rocket’s second stage engines shut down prematurely.

FEBRUARY

USSR February 19 Lunar landing probe E-8 No. 201, the first to carry the Lunokhod robotic rover, fails to reach Earth orbit.

USSR February 21 First test of the N-1 Moon rocket (7K-L1S), which is intended to orbit the Moon with a dummy Soyuz L3 lunar landing complex. The rocket develops a fire in its giant 30-engined first stage and explodes 68.7 seconds after launch.

USA February 24 Mariner 6 is launched on dual mission to Mars (with Mariner 7).

MARCH

USA March 3–13 The launch of Apollo 9 aboard a Saturn SIB marks the first piloted flight of the Apollo Lunar Module (in Earth orbit). The LM is cleared for flight to the Moon.

USA March 27 Mariner 7 joins Mariner 6 on its journey to Mars.

USSR March 27 Mars orbiter M-69 No.240 (Mars 1969A) is launched toward Mars but its Proton rocket explodes eight minutes after launch.

APRIL

USSR April 2 Mars 1969B launches on a mission to orbit Mars but its Proton rocket crashes 41 seconds after launch.

MAY

USSR May 16-17 Venera 5’s atmospheric probe survives for 53 minutes in the Venusian atmosphere.

USA May 18–26 Apollo 10 acts as a “dress rehearsal” for a lunar landing, with the Lunar Module descending to within 15,000 m (50,000 ft) of the lunar surface. The mission is almost faultless, clearing the way for a landing attempt. On its return to Earth Apollo 10 also claims the speed record for a manned spacecraft –11.08 km/s (6.9 miles per second) – as it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere.

JUNE

USA June 10 The U.S. Department of Defense announces the cancellation of the USAF’s Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program in favour of unmanned spy satellites.

USSR June 14 Lunar sample return probe E-8-5 No. 402 fails to reach Earth orbit after an upper stage malfunction of its launcher.

JULY

USSR July 3 A second test of the N-1 Moon rocket ends nine seconds after launch, when the engines shut down and the rocket falls back to the launch pad and explodes. Its payload, a prototype Soyuz 7K-L1S lunar spacecraft, is thrown clear by the launch escape system and lands 1 km (0.6 miles) away.

USSR July 13 Launch of lunar sample return probe E-8-5 No. 40 (Luna 15). It enters lunar orbit on July 17 but crashes during a landing attempt on July 21, just hours after Apollo 11’s landing.

USA July 16 Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins lift off aboard a Saturn V on the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission.

USA July 20 Armstrong and Aldrin descend in the Lunar Module and spend a total of 151 minutes on the lunar surface before rejoining Collins in the orbiting CSM.

USA July 24 Apollo 11 splashes down.

USA July 31 Mariner 6 photographs Mars from a distance of 3,431 km (2,132 miles).

AUGUST

USA August 5 Mariner 7 photographs Mars from a similar distance as Mariner 6.

USSR August 8 7K-L1 No.11 (Zond 7) is successfully launched on a circumlunar mission aboard a Proton rocket. It returns to Earth on August 14.

SEPTEMBER

USSR September 23 Launch of lunar sample return probe E-8-5 No. 403 (Cosmos 300) suffers an upper stage failure, leaving it stranded in low Earth orbit.

OCTOBER

USSR October 11 The successful launch of Soyuz 6 as part of an intended three-spacecraft docking mission. Cosmonauts Shonin and Kubasov subsequently carry out the first space welding experiments.

USSR October 12 Soyuz 6 is joined in orbit by cosmonauts Filipchenko, Gorbatko and Volkov in Soyuz 7.

USSR October 13 Launch of Soyuz 8 with the cosmonauts Shatalov and Yeliseyev aboard. None of the spacecraft are able to dock due to an electronic systems failure.

USSR October 22 Launch of lunar sample return probe E-8-5 No. 403 (Cosmos 305) suffers an upper stage failure, leaving it stranded in low Earth orbit.

NOVEMBER

USA November 14–24 Astronauts Pete Conrad and Al Bean make a second lunar landing in Apollo 12 and complete two lunar EVAs totalling 465 minutes. Dick Gordon pilots the CSM.

USSR November 28 A test of the N-1 Moon rocket’s Block D upper stage aboard a Proton rocket ends in failure.